Steven Lazuli
by Candy-Vegetto
Summary: AU. Ten years ago, on a solemn hour, one trivial mistake breaks Lapis Lazuli free. Fueled with hatred, she seized the Crystal Gems' most prized possession; their legacy; their Steven, and fled into the night. History as you know it, has been rewritten since then. [Covers for this story by SsjGojux20.]
1. Prologue

**A/N:** I'm from the future (24/6/16). And I've made a Contents Page at the end of this page to show why the heck this story is so long.

This story was published after Episode 70: "Catch and Release", so anything canon after that episode just doesn't go with the story. I might try to implement it, but all you need to have is general knowledge of the show.

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Prologue**

* * *

Stuck.

Unmoving.

Numb.

But still sentient.

Lapis wouldn't forget this. She wouldn't forget the torture she's been through these thousands of years. Unable to move, to feel, to talk. Only thinking if she was ever going to see the light of day. She was alive, but simultaneously not. How do you classify if something was alive?

They'll move. They'll speak. They'll feel.

She couldn't do any of that. And for millennia, she was stuck like this. To rot as a mirror. A bad reflection. She couldn't see herself, but she could damn well see _them_. The _Crystal_ _Gems_.

One day, she'll get out of this prison. One day, she'll free herself from this mirror, whatever the cost! And on that day, she's going to take _everything_ away from them. They're going to feel powerless, lost, beaten... just like how she was! Whatever they value most, she'll take it. And they won't be able to do anything about it.

They'll be in hell. Or even better, something _worse_. Someplace that also starts with an "H". Their punishment would be _extremely_ severe, just how she wanted it to.

One day is all she needed.

One day.

 _One_... _day_...

* * *

Pearl was tired. She'd been trying all night to lull Steven to sleep, but to no avail. She carried it around, hummed, rocked, patted, hugged, but nothing worked. Little Steven kept crying. What did this young child want? She fed him with a bottle of that white substance mixture Greg called "milk". It didn't satisfy him. She stroke his back, trying to soothe the baby of whatever dangers. He cried, but at least he sounded... a _tad_ bit quieter.

Amethyst cupped her ears, black circles could be seen under her eyes. Her usually messy hair was somehow _even_ messier. Gems didn't need sleep, but they _do_ get tired. The constant cries of the baby broke her limit. With a huff, she stormed out of the room, wanting to watch the show she watched with Greg about the small butler.

Garnet still kept her cool, thinking it was best to wait it out. It was her way of escaping reality, by looking into the future for solutions. And her best solution so far was to wait it out.

Pearl wanted Steven to stop. She _really_ did, and hoped her prayers would be answered. She didn't want anything wrong to happen to Rose's heir. Steven was her greatest creation, and Pearl thought of nothing but to care for him till he was a fully matured Crystal Gem. Besides, that was all she was. A Pearl. She was a servant till the end. Even if it meant looking after the next generation. Even though, no such logic existed for the Gems.

From Steven's wailing, it was certain there was something wrong. He never cried for this long. Pearl was getting worried, even if she looked like she could fall asleep any second. She endured and carried on, pacing around and carrying Steven to the beat of her steps. Pearl wished Rose was here. She would know what to do. Earth culture was so weird. And so was Rose. Her weirdness was a trait Pearl loved about.

But she's gone. And her gem lives on with Steven. She couldn't believe it when Rose first told her about this. The news was unbearable. Gone forever? Impossible.

Now here she was, trying to put her former leader's son to sleep. Without her. Without her wisdom. Without her appearance. Without her presence... her power, her leadership, her shield. Her _everything_.

Rose was _everything_ to them.

Now their everything had gone to Steven; their most valuable possession. Nothing could come close to their leader. If there was anything that could replace her, it would be her son. It was his destiny. He carried her Gem, and he must fulfill her place. It felt so void, so empty without Rose. They were all lost, messy and broken. Just blindly going about their purposeless lives, doing one last thing for their dead leader.

They felt so powerless against Steven. He's what's left of her. Right now he was frail, fragile, weak, covered in a red blanket filled with yellow stars.

So... small...

Pearl blinked. There was something coming out of her eyes. Some kind of liquid. Was this normal? This transparent liquid gushing down her eyes? She felt lighter. Like, her worries were flushing out of her system. She should do this more. She felt better, not holding anything in her. This liquid falling from her eyes felt good. They were like Rose's healing tears.

 _Tears. That's what they are. I'm crying._ Pearl thought. _It feels so good. Is this what Rose feels when she cries?_

Pearl felt her throat tighten, and she let out a sob.

 _She must've felt terrible. I can't believe... This is how she felt all the time? No wonder..._

She cradled the baby tighter in her arms, looking down at the pink Gem, shimmering in the dark.

 _She's felt so powerless... all this time._

 _And, Steven's..._ crying _..._

 _He_ _feels the same way._

 _Powerless._

 _He's sad about it._

Pearl couldn't help but feel connected to the baby, feeling the same emotion at the same time. Steven kept crying, his voice echoed off the walls. By this time, Garnet only saw another way of stopping it. She'd seen that babies were entertained by useless objects, something that would move or jingle on its own. They needed something new, so that Steven could stare at it and figure out what it did. Their resources were limitless, but most of it would kill Steven. They needed something harmless.

"Pearl, the mirror." the fusion's stern voice cut through his cries.

Tiredly, Pearl followed the order and created a handle out of her Gem, before pulling it out. The silver mirror took Steven's attention and ceased his crying. Instead, he looked at it with interest, curious as to who that baby was in that circle. Pearl smiled at the sudden silence, finally having some peace. Her heavy eyelids were close to shutting, if it weren't for the glowing mirror.

"Wh... What?" she murmured, eyes widening. "Garnet, what's..."

Garnet searched through her future vision, only seeing a possible timeline where... Oh.

"Oh no..." Garnet shook her head.

"What?!" Pearl screeched, her voice quivering.

Garnet clutched at her head, muttering something over and over. "—stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid—"

Their shouts went over Steven's head, as he grabbed the shining mirror with his stubby fingers. All moisture in the air seemed to pause, and so did the ocean outside. It waited, patiently, before it struck. Out of nowhere, water seemed to form out of thin air, literally. The moisture in the air came together, creating water bubbles that filled the room. Pearl's eyes widened, as Garnet felt herself crack.

The ocean roared, rising to about ten feet. The water tanks and pipes in the vicinity exploded like a fiery combustion, before its motion slowed down till it seemed like time itself stopped. Pearl didn't move, Garnet couldn't move, Steven wouldn't move. The mirror shone like a star, its shattered teardrop Gem glowed a vibrant blue. Then, the Gem filled itself with white light, and all the water in the area started making a dash for her.

Afraid, Pearl accidentally let go of Steven, who latched onto the mirror. Water came together, forming a giant mass and eventually taking up the room's space. Garnet was like a statue, not a single muscle in her body twitched. She and Pearl were pushed out of the room, and the last person left inside was Steven, holding onto the mirror.

Lapis used her ability to manipulate water to force herself out of her cage, trying to will everything back from the inside. All of her determination, her rage, her anger, her motives, power, energy, _anything_ , was put into this. Controlling every single molecule of water, to pull herself out of the mirror. She was going to take every chance she could get, all to get her _revenge_. And she knew the best thing to take. She'd seen it all. She knew what they loved most.

Steven Quartz Universe.

Her ticket to their hell. Her prize out of that jail cell. And she was insane enough to wait.

POP!

Lapis was out. Free! She could finally start her torment. She would win this time!

She'll take everything from them.

And their everything was Rose.

And Rose was in Steven.

And Steven was right in front of her.

Quickly, she snatched the baby, which apparently didn't need water to breathe, and froze the only entrance to the room, with only Pearl banging against the ice while Garnet remained frozen.

Lapis Lazuli smirked, glaring at the exit. Pearl felt so powerless, so broken, so lost... and everything she ever had, was taken from her. Right before her very eyes. She was beaten, she'd lost. Lapis won. Even as a cracked Gem, she was powerful. Her reflective eyes were cold and stormy, but the cracks on them made it look even more crazy. Streams of tears went down Pearl's face, and Lapis did a flick of a finger. She could fry her face off, or freeze it. Both would be gratifying.

It did nothing.

That was enough for now.

She had reformed her new body, and was allowed to take a souvenir for her victory. Steven was a great prize. Lapis knew all about Rose Quartz, and her son. She'd seen it through Pearl's Gem, and everything was perfect. She didn't think it would be this soon. She thought he had to wait another century. Oh, why complain, when you can ravish in delight.

Lapis blasted off into the sky, using the clouds as her means of escape.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, guys! This is the start of an AU I'd like to call _Steven Lazuli_.**

 **It sounds... hard to get used to. But basically, I wanted to make a story about Lapis Lazuli being Steven's older breadwinning sister/mother, and their adventures trying to escape the Crystal Gems, all while meeting a certain green Gem that gets caught up in the mess. I don't know where this is going, so pray that wherever I go, it doesn't end tragically.**

 **Hopefully, I can capture some cute and cuddly moments! FLUFF for all! Or maybe, I might just spend some more time on it, and... overthink... depressing things.**

 **Next chapter, we're going to skip ahead ten years.**

* * *

... This is where you scroll down, click next chapter, and just don't look at the thing below.

* * *

 **(Updated: 24/6/16)**

Hey there, guys. I'm from the past's future. (not the present. complicated, I know)

This story is long and you probably don't want to read it because you don't have the time, and you're just checking it out. The reason why this _is_ long as _all hell_ is because there are multiple story arcs. This isn't a formal story, it's an AU. That means this whole 340K+ word story is not one, but multiple stories (like DBZ arcs). So, here's what's coming or what's already here. You could call it a contents page. Well, not a _page_ , but you get the point.

 **BE WARY OF TITLE SPOILERS. Also, in the listed, I will put an alert if chapters are over or around 7,000 words.**

"Contents Page"

 **Prologue:**

Prologue (Chapter 0)

 **New Beginnings:** _(Words: 26,359. Average per chapter: 3,766.)  
_

A Decade Goes By  
School Shield  
The Sausage Factory  
New Kid: The Platypus  
Shapeshifting Queen  
Teardrop From The Moon  
Lazuli In Training

 **Amber Arc:** _(Words: 67,875. Average per chapter: 5,656.)  
_

The Square Root Of Garnet  
Rogue Nation: Part I  
Rogue Nation: Part II  
My Name Is Amber  
Bubbling Tension  
The Safehouse  
Public Announcement  
Assuring The Inevitable  
Manipulative Goddess  
Beginning To An End  
Endgame To Evolution **(7,000+ words!)**  
Raining Gems **(17,000+ words!)**

 **Post-Ambergeddon:** _(Words: 67,494. Average per chapter: 6,136.)  
_

Full Disclosure **(~10,000 words!)**  
The Long Winter  
Rising Tides, Crashing Ship  
Pay Your Respects  
Sayonara, Earth  
Lion: The Reboot  
Birthday Magic  
Rogue Time  
An Intricate Game  
Gem, Assassin, Magician, End **(~9,000 words!)**  
Piece Of My Time

 **Crystal Clear Revenge:** _(Words: 52,411. Average per chapter: 6,551.)  
_

Saving A Dying Mission  
Aware  
Revival Of The Fittest  
Demonic Heroine **(9,000+ words!)**  
Our Hopes In Fears **(8,000+ words!)**  
Nightmare Persona **(~7,000 words!)**  
Your Illusion **(~7,000 words!)**  
Xeno-Fusion

 **"Serendipity" Arc:** _(Words: 23,157. Average per chapter: 5,789.)  
_

Last Chances  
Terminal Rogue  
New World Order  
The Pink Monarch

 **Civil War:**

The Accords  
Line in The Sand **(7,000+ words!)**  
Rose Garden **(7,000+ words!)**  
Of Mice and Men **(8,000+ words!)**  
Divided We Fall **(10,000 words!)**  
Song of Ice and Fire **(~10,000 words!)**  
Gem Ex Machina **(8,000+ words!)  
** Message Received **(8,000 words!)  
** The Return **(11,000 words!)  
** Jailbreak **(12,000 words!)**  
Rebirth **(10,000 words!)**  
Oh, Ye Hero Hath Cometh **(21,000+ words!) [And "** _The Longest Chapter In This Story_ **" award goes to...]**  
Steven's Ordeal


	2. Chapter 1: A Decade Goes By

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 1: _A Decade Goes By_**

* * *

Lapis felt so free on this world. Why was home ever an idea?

She was a _god_ on Earth.

She controls one of the most reoccurring substances in the world. It makes up more than seventy percent of it. Even in _humans_. Why would she leave a place where she was most powerful? Homeworld didn't have this. In hindsight, home was a trap for Lapis. Freedom was the thing she actually wanted. Away from the mirror.

All this time, chasing dreams... the one thing she wanted was to be free.

But there would be times, where it was _necessary_ to lose that freedom. Just for a period of time, so that she could see someone _else_ thrive: Steven.

Here she was, in the convenience store, covering her blue skin with a black jacket she picked up eight years ago, and her face in the shadow of her hat. She was trapped and constricted under these conditions, and she actually didn't feel like that, but it was best that people don't ask questions. Usually, they'd keep asking, and she'd answer with "rare skin disease", because it was the best answer she could find while studying Earth dialect. Sometimes, she could just say she was a real alien in a sarcastic tone, or tell them to go away.

And then occasionally, she'd experiment with, "Ya know... _conventions_... and all that."

Lapis was very adaptable to situations. Much like water, when it goes into a gaseous state or a solid state. And she was patient, just like water, going through its cycle every day, waiting to turn into clouds and fall from the sky. The point is, she was a master at adjusting to new things. And she learned to adapt to Earth culture rather quickly. It took her three weeks: one to spy and learn from people, one to experiment on them to see what was satisfactory, and the last one to succeed and learn that Earth culture _evolved_ , so she needed to do the same.

Lapis also needed to make money on this world. And she had her ways of making it.

Most of it came from being efficient at... _shady_ situations. The other was acting like she was a homeless teen to get pitied on. People toss coins and sometimes stuff paper currency in that cup. She learned it from the other people on the street. It wasn't that hard since she's a person that could literally wait for ten years straight without ever moving. That was her thing, being patient.

Why did she need _money_?

Well, it certainly took more than water and air to help Steven off his feet. Lapis had studied babies from Pearl's standpoint, and she knew the fundamentals of taking care of a baby. She needed food, shelter, entertainment, clothes, cleaning tools... BAM, ready to raise a baby. Steven was unusually quiet around her, which was strange and she thought something was wrong with him. Whenever she saw him through Pearl, she'd seen him as loud and noisy. Steven wasn't loud and noisy. He was quiet.

Lapis had noticed the pink gem on Steven's belly on her first days with him, already connecting the pieces so long ago. The reason they valued him was because he had Rose Quartz's Gem. It was disgusting to see how the Gems couldn't move on, or _adapt_ , and see this baby as their new king. The more she thought about it, the more she pitied the Gems for being so obsessed over their dead leader that they replaced her with the son.

Steven was an innocent child at heart. That was something Lapis didn't understand. She would tell him "stories" about the Crystal Gems, and he wasn't even frightened by them. He was convinced that everyone needed a second chance, and that there was good in everyone. She would just roll her eyes, maybe Steven still remembered them from a decade ago. But he honestly didn't, which made it harder for her to understand him.

Rose was right, humans _are_ complicated _and_ simple at the same time.

Lapis wondered sometimes, why the most powerful Gem figure in history would give it all up for a human son?

She wasn't complaining, her son was a get-out-of-jail-free card for her. That was something she should thank. Though, sometimes, she also wondered, if she was doing a good job at taking care of Steven. Sure, he was her clueless hostage, but she wanted to know if she was doing a good job. She didn't want him leaving her, or choosing the Crystal Gems over her. No, that would put a wrench in her plans. She wanted them to feel powerless as long as she did. To put them through hell and worse.

She'd even taunted them once or twice a year, just to keep their hopes up, only for them to be crushed. She led them clues to come to the middle of the ocean, three times, and they still fell for it. She went face-to-face with them once, and it was only to tell them that Steven was still alive. Surprisingly, one of those Gems became _shorter_.

Lapis took the cookie cat snack that Steven wanted so much, paid for it like a normal citizen, and left the store. She found the chubby boy leaning on the store wall, next to the glass door. She cracked a smile at his blank stare at the ground, and pulled Steven away from the store's entrance, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, brain-dead, how's it going?" she asked, using the humans' quick wit to flare the conversation. Confidence was a key to human language, and so were pet names.

Steven looked around. "I'm nervous. About tomorrow." he replied, holding his cheeseburger bag tightly in his chubby arms. "What am I supposed to do? I've been to school so many times, but the first days are _so_... nerve-racking!"

"Relax, it's gonna be like last time. Or better, like those books you read." Lapis reassured, putting a hand on his shoulder. "If they hurt you, I'll beat them up for you." she added, emphasizing on the "beating them up" part.

Steven shuffled on his boots awkwardly. "Lapis, have _you_... ever been to school?"

Lapis' smile dimmed a bit, but she held it just for him.

"Well, of course... _not_." she frowned, inwardly horriffied that she wouldn't be able to give Steven any wisdom like she always did. Schools were just a place where humans gradually learn the inner workings of their world. Lapis didn't think she would waste fifteen years going to _school_ when she could learn it instantly through books in a library. "I've never been to a school. But you have."

Steven stared at the ground. "I'm scared, Lapis. What do I do?"

"I don't know." Lapis sighed, not understanding how he was nervous about a school. "Just act how you normally would. Maybe you'd be quiet enough for people to not notice you."

"I hope so."

The entire conversation just made Lapis feel pointless for doing the work she'd done all the time. She'd been saving up a lot of money so that he could go to school, just like he wanted to. But everyday, he kept getting more nervous than what was previously imagined, and it made her feel uncomfortable how Steven seemed like he didn't want to go to school. Days of saving up during the summer only to let it blow out into something he didn't like. She'd prepared books, stationery, paper, recipes, and even a plan just in case the Crystal Gems find them.

"It'll be great. You'll meet new people. You'll learn things I haven't taught you yet." Lapis tried to think of more advantages, but those were the only ones she could think of. She already prepared Steven to side with her all the time, told him that Crystal Gems were bad for trapping other Gems, some history of the Gems, and tried to teach him to fight. All the important stuff. However, regarding the last part, Steven was a natural-born pacifist. He couldn't hurt a butterfly. So teaching him to fight was a complete failure on her part.

"I don't want to go without you." Steven whimpered, latching onto her just like he did a decade ago when she was a mirror. Inwardly, she cringed at the memory, but held on to the boy.

"Steven... I'm always there with you. _Literally_." Lapis reminded, ruffling his hair. "Except when I have to do things alone." Her calm expression turned stern, like the ocean waves' changing tides. "There are just some things you're better off not knowing."

"I know. I know." Steven replied, laying his head on her stomach. "Everyone likes sausages but they don't like how it's made."

"That's right, Steven." she patted him on his curly hair, which was cut every month without him knowing. Her eyes lost some of its gleam when she spoke her next sentence. "It's better this way."

The half-Gem was silent for awhile. He then asked, "Lapis, do you ever get nervous?"

"Some of the time. Most of the time." Lapis replied, "I don't know how to feel nervous by myself. I've always felt like I could fit into any situation... but if it's you, I get _really_ nervous."

Steven hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry for making you feel that way."

"It's not your fault, Steven."

Lapis wondered why she always had Steven around. Yes, it was part of her plan to torture the Crystal Gems, however, she could just freeze him somewhere in Antarctica and she would continue taunting them. Simple as that. But then, there would be the ultimate payoff to all this. Steven would do anything to repay her after all she's done for him. Steven wouldn't side with the Crystal Gems, and that would break them even more. That was one of the advantages to this.

That's what she kept telling herself. All this was part of her sick and demented revenge plan. Steven caring for her was just another gain to this.

Truth is, she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

Steven was a _baby_ back then. She couldn't freeze an innocent baby that didn't know he was famous for his powerful mother. If she did that, it would further approve that she was indeed messed up in the Gem. She wasn't that psychotic. And if she froze him, she would be no better than the Crystal Gems for locking her up in the mirror. Being frozen in ice was practically the same thing, except babies probably won't last long.

She didn't want to be like her tormentors on the _innocent_. She only wanted to cause pain to those who caused it first. Sometimes, she would go back on her word for... _important_ reasons. But it was for Steven... In fact, _most_ of what she did to pass the time was for Steven.

"Lapis, I wanna go home."

She caressed his hair, smiling again. "... _home_? We don't really live anywhere."

"I know," Steven softly smiled back. "I'm just tired."

"Oh, almost forgot." Lapis mentally slapped herself for it. She took out a cookie cat from her jacket pocket, and gave it to Steven. "Your favorite."

"Cookie cat!" Steven exclaimed, awestruck by the snack. He took the cookie cat bar and grinned from ear to ear. "What's that song they always sing in commercials?

" _Oohhhh!_

" _He's a frozen treat with an all new taste!_

" _'Cause he came to this planet from outer space!_

" _A refugee of an interstellar war!_

"...aaand, I forgot the rest." he ended, looking down at the packet.

Lapis looked somewhat offended by the last part of the song, but it seemed nobody on the planet knew about the Gem war, so she thought it was just a coincidence that Steven sung a song about a refugee of a war from outer space. Because that was the story of his _mother_.

"Hey, let's get you home." Lapis tugged at his sleeve.

"But we don't have a home."

"Home isn't a possession, Steven. _Home_ is where you live with your family."

Steven's eyes were full of stars. "You're _so_ wise, Lapis."

The ocean Gem chuckled.

"C'mon, Steven, sun's almost down."

* * *

 **A/N: WOAH! I didn't expect this story to get so much love. I mean, 400+ views, 21 favorites, 26 followers and 7 reviews, in the span of _two_ days? That's a record for _me_.**

 **I feel like I'm holding a giant weight of responsibility now. If I'm not careful, I might tip over and— _whoops_.**

 **I think I might've slipped some important info on the status of the Crystal Gems back up there. And, the entirety of Lapis' plan. And a mix of all the things I was supposed to reveal chapter by chapter... except I placed it all into a dump of words there. And wow, it's less than what I'd expected.**

 **Now to think of how Lapis got her Gem healed. Or how she got her money. Or Steven's past experiences with school. Or Steven in general. Or the Crystal Gem's small companioWAIT, I'VE SAID TOO MU**


	3. Chapter 2: School Shield

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 2: _School Shield_**

* * *

Lapis Lazuli had her hands clasped behind her head, thin fingers moving through her silky blue hair, as she gazed at the sky above them. It was nighttime, not even a blink of natural solar light could be seen in miles. She knew that the instant the sun rises, she would need to wake Steven up. But that event hasn't happened yet. It was midnight, after all. She passed the time by staring at the stars, recognizing each of the different solar systems out there. Then at the moon that shined brightly in the inky sky.

 _I'm Lapis Lazuli!_ She thought to herself. _The most powerful Gem on Earth! Or maybe even the Universe!_

She added. _Yeah, that's something Steven would say if he were me._

She once made a bet to Steven that she could move the planets that were made of water. If she had that much liquid flying around, she'd be a one man army. Unstoppable. She could do practically anything with that much water in the palm of her hands. She could create a "superplanet" that would move around in the Universe. Or an entire army of warriors! Or something similar.

Her ability to manipulate water was incomprehensible. She felt like she could achieve more than she ever did on Earth, and that moving the ocean wouldn't be that much of a challenge. Lapis thought she could even do it while being a cracked Gem. If it were her way, without a plan in motion, she would try to use the Earth's _entire_ ocean to her liking. Maybe use it as a giant, planet-shattering weapon? Or use it to pride herself in being able to steal the ocean? Or use it as something to make her feel stronger. Or a smaller scale of the things she thought of about the water planets?

Maybe make a gateway between her and Homeworld.

Pfft, who was she kidding? Homeworld was light years away, there's no way the amount of water on this planet could stretch out that far. If she was right, it would probably make it to Neptune. But she wasn't a scientist, so she didn't know for sure.

She had no idea what else she wanted to do with all that power. Maybe after she dealt with the Crystal Gems, she would figure out what to do later. She could ask Steven. Steven always had fun ideas to try with his imaginative brain. He could think of anything and Lapis would deem it fun, because it was _Steven_! He's _always_ a ball of fun when he puts his mind into it. Or, accidentally.

But if she was done with the Crystal Gems, then that means she was done with Steven.

Will she ever end this? This journey of life with Steven and the Crystal Gems? Or would Steven even _live_ that long? How long would she keep the Crystal Gems looking for Steven? And even if she gave up her revenge plan, would she return Steven to the Crystal Gems? He's already too far gone and loved Lapis more than them. And what would happen if the Crystal Gems gave up?

 _Hmph. If I know the Universe, it would do something unexpected. Something's gonna happen sooner or later._ She thought, snorting through her nose.

* * *

"Steven, time to get up."

The ten year-old boy tightly pulled the black jacket, that Lapis had given him to act as a blanket, over his head. Lapis chuckled at his attempts to stay asleep, before splashing ice cold water into the jacket. Steven's body instantly replied, his limbs going into panic, trying to get the water out by flailing. He sat up almost a second later, eyes wide with a big frown.

"Why did you do that?" he demanded, giving the most hateful glare he could possibly manage. It was cute in the blue Gem's perspective. They were in the park, which was a nice spot Lapis thought for Steven to sleep in.

"You wouldn't get up." she answered nonchalantly, unfazed by his looks.

"So... it's time for me to go to school?" Steven asked, yawning.

"Yes," Lapis nodded, turning her head to direct his attention to the orange-tinted sky. "The sun rose."

Steven audibly gulped.

"It can't be _that_ bad, Steven." Lapis said as she tried to think of a solution to his nervousness. She snapped her fingers as she thought of one. "I'll accompany you."

"No!" Steven shrieked before he could even comprehend what he just did. It made Lapis jump a bit. "Uh, I mean, it's okay! You don't need to go with me. It's just _nervousness_." he reassured. "Not to say that I don't like you being with me in school, but it just feels _weird_."

The blue Gem gave him a stare. "You don't want others to criticize you." Lapis stated.

"Well..." Steven rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the pavement. "...I guess... you hit the nail on the board."

"No, I di—" Lapis slipped up on her words, and tried to gain back her flow. "I mean... _Nothing_. I didn't say _anything_."

"Did you just... _not_ understand... the _phrase_?" Steven asked, raising a brow suspiciously.

"It was only for a second!" Lapis justified. "My answering alarms went off before my brain could think." she explained in a hurried fashion, starting to sit in front of the boy.

Steven grinned, pointing at his motherly figure. "You made a _mistake_!" he teased.

Lapis huffed. "Not like I haven't made a mistake before..." she muttered, crossing her arms and looking away.

"It's just so _rare_." Steven replied, stars in his eyes. He took in the moment and spent the next minute admiring the small slip-up Lapis made. "I need to document this."

"Uh, _no_. You don't." Lapis responded, her tone being a playful type of stern.

"Oh, yes. I _do_." Steven took out a pen and notebook from his cheeseburger bag. He began to write down a note on a new page of the book, scribbling down words only intelligible to him. "This will go down in _history_."

Lapis Lazuli rolled her eyes. "Well, here's breakfast." she said, giving him a chocolate-stuffed sandwich. "I made it myself." she informed with a shrug, trying to make it look like she had no problem making it.

"Woah, _cool_!" Steven took the sandwich in one hand, and started nibbling on it. "Thanks, Lapis!"

"Anything for you, Steven."

"It's so gooey and sweet." Steven remarked joyfully, munching on the sandwich. "I _love_ it! Can you make more?"

"Only when you're good." she answered, chuckling afterwards.

"Aw, but I _am_ good." he stated, taking another cute bite. "See?"

Lapis felt her lips curve upwards. She ruffled his hair affectionately, which he didn't like, so he cut it off by pouncing on her. The water Gem laughed as they rolled around on the grassy patch, getting caked in mud and blades of grass. Lapis washed off the dirt with a flick of her wrist, sending water molecules to scrape the mud off.

"I'll walk you to school." she informed, dusting grass off her arm.

"No flying?" Steven frowned, eyebrows knitting in sadness.

"Why do we need to fly?" Lapis asked, raising a brow. "It's only a couple of blocks that way." she said, pointing at the street behind her. "It's just as easy to walk there."

"But I like flying." Steven said dejectedly.

"Maybe another time." Lapis replied, sighing.

The half-Gem started walking back to the park bench to get his cheeseburger backpack, which had everything that the both of them thought was necessary for school. There were stationery, books and whatever else you needed for school. And due to some conflicts in the past years, Lapis had to make sure everything was set in school, by going into it a week prior and meeting the school's principal. Now, the principal made sure that Steven was allowed in school. The boy didn't know what Lapis did to make him look so terrified.

So, Steven wasn't sure he was looking forward to a school where the principal did all the work for him. On one hand, Lapis made sure it was suitable for him, but on the other, he thought the principal would want to get some revenge on him for what she did. He was nervous, thinking he'd be the center of attention. He didn't want to be the guy who everyone remembered as the pampered boy. That would be embarrassing.

After a short walk, Lapis and Steven made their way to the school, which was named "Promenade Elementary School". Next to it was a middle school, so it would be easier for students to transfer over to it. The town mayor funded the school so much it looked like it was brand new. Inside the gates, there were only a few children walking around the playgrounds of the school, since it was still early. The whole school was blocked out by a square fence wall, and the playground took up forty percent of the space.

Steven was supposed to enter fourth grade, but got pushed to fifth because he tested average there. Lapis had homeschooled him enough to speed him up to the school's age standards.

Lapis stared at the school, while Steven nervously walked in, looking around for the other students. The principal burst through the school's entrance with a grin on his face, about to introduce Lapis and Steven to the school, but the blue Gem shunned him by raising her fingers. The principal shuddered, walking back into the school.

"Alright, Steven. To my knowledge, the only children around are the early birds. They're usually the quiet and nervous type. Have fun making friends." Lapis informed, stepping out of the school so as to not embarrass Steven. She waved at him goodbye, which he sadly returned. She then muttered something, but Steven could make it out from her lips. She said, "Remember, I'm always with you."

Steven gave her a smile, and she chuckled in response as she vanished into the streets.

The Gem hybrid frowned afterwards, feeling alone in the school. One of the things he liked about it was that he could make friends. He was always moving around with Lapis, off to another city or country. It was kind of like the "No Home Boys" book series, which he favored a lot. There was also a book series called "The Spirit Morph Saga", which he hadn't caught up on... and he also found someone else reading it.

Intrigued, Steven headed over to the Indian girl on the bench, reading the book. He sat on the bench next to her, and stared at the book pages. The girl glanced at him, and scooted away.

Seeing this, Steven introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Steven. Lazuli. Steven Lazuli. Actually, just call me Steven."

"I've never seen you here before." she replied suspiciously, readjusting her big glasses.

"Oh, that's because I'm new." he shrugged, taking his cheeseburger bag from his back so that he could set it on his lap. "What's your name?"

"Oh. Um, well..." She scratched the back of her head, awkwardly trying to find the right words after living a life with no friends. Maybe this was her chance to _finally_ make a friend. "...It's Connie."

"Well... hello, Connie." Steven said, smiling sweetly.

"Uh... do you want something?" Connie asked.

"Huh?" he raised a brow.

Her eyes widened as she realized that he just told her he was a new student. "Oh! You're new. Sorry for the... suspicion." she apologized. "So, have you read this book before?" she questioned, finally finding a real friend to talk to.

"I've seen it in the library lots of times. But I like the No Home Boys series." Steven answered.

"Well, you've _got_ to see this! Good thing I brought the first book today." Connie informed excitedly, flipping through the book's contents until she found the first page. She gave it to Steven, who wasn't used to the hospitality. This was what friends do, right? "Don't worry. I've read this book a _zillion_ times." she stated proudly.

"Okay..." Steven replied uncertainly.

He began reading the book, and after the first chapter, the playground was littered with students, waiting around, not wanting to be around the lockers. Halfway through the second chapter, the bell had rung and all the students needed to go to class. The principal, a man with a balding spot in a gray suit, walked out of the school and looked out in the playground nervously.

As the students went into school, Steven didn't know where to go. So, he asked Connie for help. "Uh, can you help me out? I don't really know the school a lot—"

"Steven Lazuli!" the principal exclaimed with glee, walking towards the boy. "Oh, I see you've found a friend. Uh..." he looked blankly at Connie, trying to remember her name. "What was it?"

"Connie." she said.

"Connie! Right. Uh, why don't _you_ be Steven's guide for the day? You know, help him out. And if you like, I could change Steven's schedule to match yours." The principal snapped his fingers. "Oh, wait, I just remembered, you two are in the same intellect level. Both of you have the _same_ schedule! That's _neat_." he grinned, his shining white teeth blinded them. "Anyway, Connie, here's a guide badge, wear it at all times so it could grant you access to be outside of class. Toodles!"

Connie took the badge that allowed her to sneak out of class, and pinned it on her yellow dress. As the principal trotted away, Steven remarked, "Was that weird?"

"Oh. _No_! That's normal." Connie shook her head. "He's constantly under stress."

"I feel sorry for him." Steven replied. "My..."

The demigem didn't know whether Lapis would be his sister or his mother, but since his last name was _Lazuli_ this time, he could only say that Lapis would be his mother. It was confusing, since he and her had different identities while moving to other countries. His other last name was Quartz, to honor his real mother for fighting for this planet. Lapis said that she respected her, but that was all lost when she told him how his mother chose the Crystal Gems' way of protecting the Gems on Earth. That his mother thought it was better for the humans when Gems are bubbled. Lapis was one of the victims, and thought she was leading him to the right way.

"... _mom_... She... I don't know what she did to him. But I think she did something to make him feel worse." he stated.

"Oh, I know about moms. They're really strict, overprotective and want the best out of you." Connie responded.

"Well, my mom does that, but it's all cool. Living on the streets is _insane_." Steven informed.

"You... You live on the _streets_?" Connie asked, a bit overwhelmed that she was a friend with a poor guy. She got to live with her parents in an apartment, and this boy had to live on the park bench.

"Yeah, until Lapis finds us a home, we will have to make use of the park." Steven replied blankly, like it was a normal thing.

"The park... You mean the one just across the street?" Connie asked, pointing out the gate.

"Uh, yeah." he answered. "Just like the No Home Boys, am I right?"

Connie stared wide-eyed at him, looking in a new perspective. "Riiight..."

* * *

After school, Steven had learned a lot more about the school facilities, which would all be gone in a few months, since that was the norm. He would eventually move again, and be without a friend. So, he made use of this time to hang around with Connie. Though, he wasn't sure why people made fun of her during lunch or class. She was alright, had a great laugh and was _really_ into books just like him.

Connie was always silent when it came up, like she didn't want to talk about it. He learned from Lapis that sometimes, things were meant to be kept secret, for the greater good. So whatever Connie was hiding him, was probably for the better.

"So... what's it like in school those other four years?" Steven asked, curious.

"I don't know how to explain it. It wasn't fun." Connie said, interlocking her fingers behind her back. "But I think _you_ had it rougher."

"Uh, what?" he replied.

"Well, _you_... move to places all the time, and last night you just slept on the park bench with the only family you have. And you think that's _normal_." Connie stated.

"Is it not?" he asked.

"No." she answered straightly.

"But it's like the No Home Boys." Steven whined.

"Steven, the No Home Boys are not normal." Connie informed.

As they chatted, a group of children found two victims and walked towards them. Their leader, a blond casual with bed head, snickered as he saw them. His name was Zack, a student of the same grade. He wasn't as smart as them, but he was able to keep up. Usually, he wasn't one of the bullies, they were already in middle school. Instead, he was one of the cool kids, who try to make things funnier than usual. They ran out of things to make fun of, so they had to settle on other children.

"Oi, you're the new kid, right?" he asked. Connie's head shrunk into her neck, looking down at the ground.

"Uh, _yeah_..." Steven answered, wary of Connie's response to their appearance. "Why did you wanna know that?"

"Just checking." Zack said, shrugging. He then focused on Connie. "Well, look who we have here..."

"It's Connie!" Another guy, probably named Jack, exclaimed. "She's the _smart_ one."

"Jack, you idiot. Of course I know that." Zack elbowed him in the stomach, causing Jack to double over in pain. "Anyway, I hope you don't cry to your parents that we accidentally knocked you down the stairs last year. It was just a scratch, right?" Connie seemed visibly upset at the mention of that, thinking she was the guilty one.

"Oho! Your parents totally complained." Jack, a raven-haired boy with buck teeth, chimed in, adding salt to the wound.

Zack rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Jack."

"Uhm... what's happening?" Steven whispered to Connie. "Is this what bullying in real life is? Seems weaker than what I knew back then."

"Weaker?" Zack scoffed. "This is only the beginning. We're here to be the necessary villains of this school because the younger students need to toughen up! The real world is _worse_ than this."

"We're the villains?" Jack inquired cluelessly.

"Dammit, Jack! You're pissing me off!" Zack shouted in a hushed tone. "Haven't you heard of "comedy derives from pain"?"

Jack was confused. "... _derive_?"

"You there!" Zack pointed at someone, named... _Mack_. He was abnormally tall. "Take Jack... um, somewhere, uh... away from here!"

"You got it, _boss_." Mack replied, doing a mock salute, before dragging Jack away.

"Anyway..." Zack pinched the bridge of his nose. "We're supposed to be taking the places of last time's school bullies, beating you guys up to make you tougher, and hopefully, you'd learn more from it."

"I don't think there's such a thing as _necessary_ evil." Steven informed, in a passive and worrying way. He worried what these kids would turn out to be like. "I mean, aren't we supposed to be the new generation? If we're all nice, and we grow up, doesn't that make everyone nice?"

Connie smiled at Steven's bold statement.

"That just makes our cause feel worthless." the pretty boy, Ruck, spoke up from behind.

"He just insulted us!" a girl, Beck, shouted. "You're just gonna let him do this to us!" Lots of boos and screams from the cool kids club.

"No, no." Zack calmed them down. "He has a point."

Steven cheekily grinned. "Oh, thank—"

Connie gasped, watching Steven get knocked down onto the ground by Zack. A lot of the crowd went silent, with Zack awkwardly standing over the demigem, fist still clenched, a foot being raised behind him, and his whole balance being thrown off. A lot of the cool kids began chanting "fight, fight, fight".

"Hey! That hurt!" Steven responded, rubbing his cheek.

"Ah crap." Zack remarked. "Sorry, new kid—"

"His name's Steven!" someone, preferably Buck, informed over the loud chant.

"Oh my _god_. Don't you know to shut up when someone's talking? You don't cut someone off, that's uncool." Zack advised.

Connie helped Steven up, not knowing what else to do with _that_ many people around. If she ran away, that would look cowardly, something that's gonna bite you in the back.

"I wonder if you're just like your girlfriend, Steven. Are you gonna chicken out to your mama?" Zack taunted. "Well, in a few years, your mom isn't gonna be able to help you. Because she's a stupid, ugly—what do you call it? Oh, a _bitch_."

Steven wasn't one to attack people. He was always not about violence, and instead liked peaceful conclusions. Even in moments like these, he never showed any aggression, just a passive feeling and knowing that Lapis would always be there. But she wasn't here.

Something sparked in Steven. He always had mixed feelings about his mom, Rose Quartz. He didn't know whether he should protect her name, or just not care for what she did to Lapis. But at that very instant, he knew something was very wrong about that insult. Something ruptured inside him, years of confusion and hate, just turned into some boost of energy. Emotions swirled around, projecting itself outwards as a form of power.

Then, he said something that didn't suit him. Like it was instinct.

"You don't talk about my _mom_ ," Steven saw a pink glow emanate from his arm, while he kept on with every syllable, "like _that_!"

The crowd gasped, watching a holographic pink shield bloom out of his arm. Connie was amazed, seeing something extraordinary like fictional event happen in real life. Steven was about to bash Zack's face in, till a hand placed itself over his arm.

"Steven, _stop_."

He saw the blue-skinned hand, and found out that Lapis appeared out of _seemingly_ nowhere. Everyone paused, some glancing around to find where she came from.

"Lapis..." he whispered. Her expression was stern, something akin to disappointment. It broke out into a grin.

"I'm proud of ya, kid." she stated with a lopsided smirk.

"Y-you're not mad?" Steven asked, tears welling from his eyes out of guilt.

" _Mad_?!" The ocean Gem laughed, head falling back. "Well, I'd be crazy if I wasn't proud you're able to summon your weapon."

"Weapo—Oh! The shield!" Steven waved the sparkling pink weapon around.

"What's going on?" Zack asked, terrified.

Lapis glared at his direction, before shrugging. "I don't know. I'm Steven's mother. I heard someone call me. Was it you?"

"Bu—uh— _no_! That was _not_ me." Zack turned and ran away. "Retreat!"

As the club went away, Lapis scoffed. "Cowards. All bark, no bite."

"You're Miss Lazuli?" Connie asked, awestruck. "I have so many questions! First, what are you guys? Are you one of the Gems from the past? Is Steven a _Gem_? I thought there were only four of you left? And I don't remember seeing a blue one!" she gasped, "Is your name Lapis Lazuli, like the mineral? That would make a lot of sense. I mean, your last name is Lazuli!"

"Kid, I have _no_ idea what you're talking about." Lapis blatantly lied, having to do it several times before. She then looked at Steven. "What did I tell ya? You just needed to flush out your emotions."

"Yeah, but that wasn't _all_..." Steven said, rubbing his wrist. The shield dissipated as the feeling went away. He tried to reactivate it, thinking about his mother, but he couldn't do it. He tried thinking about that _rage_ , but nothing worked. He tried flexing, or putting some strain into his arm, thinking it was similar to conducting energy.

Nothing.

"You're a hybrid. Maybe it's different. Sooner or later, you'll find out on your own way." Lapis informed, "There's only one of you."

"I wish I knew how to do it." Steven lamented, "If I did, I would at least be more like a Gem."

"You're _Gems_! You _have_ to be!" Connie exclaimed excitedly.

Lapis shut her eyes, frustrated. "Alright! We're Gems. Just keep quiet about it. We're kinda taboo around here."

"Noted." Connie confidently nodded. Her new friend was a _Gem_ , heroes of the past, coolest things in the world. They've been around the planet, protecting humanity from harm and hinting them to victory. How could she _not_ be excited?

"Lapis, this is Connie." Steven introduced.

"A bit too late to say it, don't ya think?" Lapis remarked.

"Well, you two met in a strange way. So, I thought... it was better to do a proper introduction." Steven shrugged.

"Come on." Lapis pulled him around the shoulders. She turned to the young girl. "Don't you need to go back home, or something?"

"Uh, yes. I'll just, uh... I'll see you tomorrow, Steven Lazuli!" Connie joyously skipped away, waving at him.

Steven waved back, a soft smile on his face. "You too, Connie."

Lapis glanced at the two. "Is this some sort of that human relationship?"

"The _friendly_ one." he stated.

Lapis smirked, thinking to herself. _I don't think so._

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that took longer than I expected. I had lots of stuff I wanted to say about this chapter, but I forgot all my jokes everytime I'm here. But I remember about the cool kids' names ending with "-ck". Zack, Jack, Mack, Ruck, Beck, Buck ( _different_ Buck from the show)... ****I don't know what to say about that. I was kinda in a writer's block position for a few days because I don't know anything about a _school_.**

 **I did my half-hearted research on it.** **It was boring. So is coming up with names. Took me hours to think of one, till I thought of a joke for it. Oh, and I skipped the entirety of the school portion, because I don't know what a normal school is like.**

 **In addition to the stuff I have noted, this story's been getting a lot of love, and I want to just say from the bottom of my heart... I love you people.**

 **No, actually, just, thank you. I don't know you guys personally, so I don't think we're in that relationship yet. If you want to, you could just... I don't know, drop your obsession of me because I'm not what you think. Also, I'm not looking for a relationship.**

 **Anyway, next chapter is titled "The Sausage Factory". I'll let you guys think about what it's about.**

 **EDIT: Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. This chapter's name is a pun of "Cool Shield".**


	4. Chapter 3: The Sausage Factory

**A/N: I FORGOT A SCENE LAST CHAPTER.**

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere disclosed...

In a dark, nightly place, a holographic screen luminated the place, its radar beeping intensely. A pink dot could be seen on the screen, sending out ripples like an echo. The holder of the screen looked fascinated, her triangular green Gem reflecting off the light from the hologram.

"My scouting here won't be that boring after all. There's an energy reading of a high-class Gem. Pink, in color. The only one here on Earth able to produce that wavelength... is _Rose Quartz_."

* * *

 **A/N: Now that _that's_ out of the way, onto chapter three!**

 **But fair warning, the following chapter contains the underworld. The crime one, not hell. There will be some spouts of drugs and stuff like that. It's pretty mild, but it was just a warning. If you think you could handle it, go on. But I remember reading a fic and there was no warning, just full blown dark context, and it scared the _crap_ outta me because I wasn't prepared. Normally, I wouldn't be scared, but I was just not mentally prepped.**

 **So, that's why I made this warning. Because I'm a scaredy cat. I might not make anymore warnings like this, because I will think it isn't that bad, or I was used to writing it so much that I think it was a casual thing.**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 3: _The Sausage Factory_**

* * *

Lapis Lazuli wasn't on board with the plan, but she did it anyways.

She had just bought an apartment for Steven and her to stay in. It seemed affordable, a nice living space, _very_ spacious and finally some place where she and Steven could call "home". There was shag carpeting, warm pale walls, and relaxing lighting in the room. It only cost what these humans call a couple "grand", but she was much rather used to saying "thousands".

She did some thinking, and decided that the Crystal Gems wouldn't be able to find them. She'd thought of the plan so much, that she was surprised she wasn't a tactician back then. She would've done great. Now, she and Steven could rest while the Crystal Gems try to find him in Antarctica, "freezing away in a compact state". She calculated it would take them about seventy days to check every inch of the ice, and a couple more months till they crack it and search deeper.

Of course, instead of being frozen, Steven was just gawking at their new apartment, and had that sparkle in his eyes every second of his time there. His friend, Connie, was tagging along, since it was after school. Lapis led Steven to this surprise, which felt less satisfying with another human around.

"How could you afford this?" Connie asked curiously, inspecting the living room. "I thought you guys spent your lives on the street?"

"Hey, I do my work. We move around because of personal problems. I've been saving up to get a house." Lapis informed, knowing that the child was smarter than she expected, and needed to lie more smoothly and reasonably. It had to be convincing.

"We have a toilet!" Steven remarked, touching his reflection in the big rectangular mirror on the wall. "That's cool!"

Connie stuck her tongue out. "Ew. Where'd you do your business back then?"

"Public toilets." Steven answered, walking out the bathroom.

"Gross." Connie laughed.

"Alright, kids. See yourself at home. Blah, blah, blah..." Lapis waved her hand around, stepping out the door. "I paid for food. It's in the fridge."

Steven, knowing what a fridge was, asked, "What does a fridge look like?"

"It's in the kitchen. You know, that white rectangular thing that has two doors on it?" Lapis informed, leaning on the door frame. "I have to go do something. So... _Connie_... look after Steven." she said uneasily. She wasn't confident with another human around Steven, but this was a girl around his age, so they _might_ not cause such a ruckus. "You're familiar with these things, right? You can tell Steven all about them."

"Where are you going that's so important?" Connie asked worriedly. Steven just looked at her blankly, thinking it was best not to bother people with questions, so he kept silent.

"Jeez, kid, you ask a _lot_ of questions." the Gem retorted. "But if you want to know, I have stuff that relates with work." The girl was about to speak again, but Lapis continued before she said anything. "My job is _none_ of your concern. I'm a Gem, remember? I know what I'm doing."

"Yeah, wartime heroes." Connie admired the Gems for their history and almost godlike effect on the world. They didn't really cause miracles, but they did things that are so otherworldly, yet it made sense, that it gives people hope and motivates them. If a person could change the whole battlefield, then they sure as heck could do anything else. For some time, Connie admired them for their bravery and mysteriousness, but when one of them was her friend, she felt it was their personality that make them great.

"So, yeah, bye." Lapis quickly left the room, closing the door.

* * *

A week prior...

It was night.

The warehouse was silent, but filled with many powerful people. By powerful, it meant they could influence an entire city by a command. These were gang leaders, truly unnerving and imposing. And the fact that there was a table full of them, meant _serious_ business, enough to change the fate of thousands of mafia members. Lately, it seemed as if they were called out from a mysterious admirer. Someone who'd spent time finding their secret contacts.

"So, who called this meeting?" one of them, Geoff, demanded. "Was it you?" He pointed his cigar at the man opposite, Heckler, who had a skar on his cheek.

"Why is it always me, man?" Heckler said, "You keep dumping shit on me. What's your deal?"

"You two bozos _shut up_." a lady in her thirties spoke up, standing from her chair. "I _demand_ to know who in here is wasting our time. If we don't have anything necessary to discuss, then I'll be going."

"Leavin' so soon, Vixen?" Geoff remarked, kicking his shoes onto the table.

"Problem?" Vixen replied, snapping back.

A giant man, almost seven feet tall, stood from his chair and pulled a pistol out. "Who of you _idiots_ called this meeting?" he asked. "I'm just wonderin'! Bunch of pussies." Gabriel remarked.

Heckler managed to spot a faint shadow by the corner of his eye. He dramatically spun around, gaining the attention of all the leaders. "Who's there?!" he shouted into the dark side of the room, which was filled with nothing but bleakness.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

"I see you're getting along _so_ well." The voice was like an echo, but chilly like it was the persona of December. The figure took a couple steps forward into the light, and revealed itself as a lean, blue war machine. A smooth helmet covering his face, military grade vest that extends to his arms, dark gloves and baggy pants, with construction boots.

"Who're _you_?" Gabriel, the big man, asked.

"Why, _I_ called you here." the shadow answered, his icy breath seeming to pop out of his helmet. He placed a hand on himself out of flattery. "I want to give _you_ guys a business proposal."

"Hah," Geoff stood up from his chair. "You mean, you want all of us to take you seriously? What kinda business are we talkin' here?"

"Oh, the kind of business where you _all work for me_." he said.

"Hmph, waste of my time." Vixen started to walk out, before she felt her blood chill to a stop, literally. She couldn't move. "Huh—"

"Oh, I hope you're not leaving yet." the shadow said. "You haven't heard any of my demands." His hold on her tightened, the moisture in the air cooling. "You see, I've heard that all of you... owe many debts to this... _other_ crime lord. And these debts extend to needing to be under his protection." he chuckled, "I can give the same thing, but I only ask for less money."

"What the hell is this? Some kind of game to you?" Geoff inquired.

The other leaders nodded, thinking it was impossible for one person to be able to protect all of them from needing to pay debts to the main crime lord.

"Haha, funny you should ask..." The shadow clapped his hands together, walking towards the table. He slammed his hands onto the desk, startling the frightened ones. "Yes, this _is_ a game to me. Your lives are meaningless compared to history and the universe. Let me ask you this: do you think your death would affect _anything_? Sure, family and friends, some worker of yours, but they'll move on. Eventually."

"Where is this going?" Heckler asked, being the closest one to him.

"What do you think your life's worth, Vixen?" he asked, and everyone turned to see a frozen woman. "Oh, I'm sorry. Normally, I don't do that." he moved his arm in a wide arc, immediately warming the temperature around her, and letting her fall to her knees. "Is that better?"

Vixen wheezed, shivering while in the warm air.

"I'm going to say that's a _yes_." he deadpanned, eyes narrowing.

"How're you going to be able to hide us from Sal?" Gabriel asked, waving his gun around.

The blue shadow leaned his head to the side. "I'm an army."

About half the people in the table laughed at this.

He crossed his arms and a group of men with the same color scheme as him, stepped out of the shadows of the building, circling the table. There seemed to be at least fifty of them, all huddled somewhere in the warehouse. Their laughter died out, seeing many pairs of eyes glare at them. The army of men look like shades of blue that came out of ice, so, they actually look like ice men. Some of them see-through.

Heckler looked around, "This..." He pointed around, smiling. "... _This_ is my jam. So, you've got powers. I'm working for you."

The shadow nodded, taking his request. "Anyone else?"

"I would." Geoff said, feeling a cold air loom over him. "How much you want?"

"How much did this... " _Sal"_ get from you?" he asked.

"'bout sixty percent." Geoff answered.

"Twenty." the shadow responded confidently. "Eighty's enough for you, isn't it?"

"Heh. I like you. You like the simple things. _Deal_." Geoff stated.

"Ey, I'll give you twenty-five." Gabriel said.

"You're too much." the shadow said with fake sincerity. "This means you work for _me_ , right?" The big man nodded. "I see, what about you other buckos?" the blue shadow asked the other unnamed leaders around the table.

"I like it." a guy with a leather jacket shrugged.

"Yeah, this's even better than Sal's deal." another woman said. "I'll join you."

Vixen coughed, sitting up. "I might say... You drive a hard bargain. You're not as bad as I thought." She painfully stood up, knees wobbling. "I'll take your business proposal."

"No hard feelings?" he joked.

Vixen didn't answer.

"I'll have to set a few rules for this new order." the shadow stated, "No selling your "merchandise" to kids. Target the older ones. This new generation is taking up poorly, and it's _degrading_. No respect around here." he remarked. "They're all idiots, thinking they're high and mighty."

"Those bloody shits." the man with the leather jacket stated.

"That's right. But you don't have to take revenge now. Be patient. Let their lives spiral out of control until we're their cure." the shadow sunk down to one of the chairs, sitting on it while its facing the opposite direction. "It goes to show how deep people will go and how it's not _our_ fault they're like this. It's the city. Gives us more reputation. _Positive_ feedback."

"Your philosophy is not that good." Geoff informed, shaking his head.

A few others seemed to admit, and the blue shadow nodded at them, showing his respect.

"Yes. Yes." the shadow said, "...I just like to watch a good person go down to _our_ level." He confessed, "I want to see them get corrupted. _That's_ my satisfaction."

Some of the leaders glanced at one another, thinking that this visitor was messed up in the head.

Heckler posed an interesting question. "What do we call you?"

The shadow looked like he was in deep thought. " _Neptune_ has a ring to it."

* * *

Present...

Lapis headed down to the warehouse, shapeshifting to match the outlook that Neptune had. She created this persona of a deranged man wanting to control the crimes of the country. The part where she said that she wanted to watch people go corrupt, was actually just a reference to the corruption of the Gems. But now, she was actually really curious as to how Gems _really_ got corrupt. Do they get corrupt like the humans did, or was it something else?

She wanted to see, to find a cure for the other trapped Gems in the Crystal Gems' storage. Maybe there was a way to get those corrupted Gems back to their normal state. By rehabilitation, perhaps? But her senses tell her it was some kind of unobtainable cure, like a serum from a set of chemical compounds. Whatever it was, she was going to get it.

Her use of water manipulation had greatly increased. She had never thought that she would really use the clone army idea until that night, and it was effective. It seemed that all she had to do was use her control over water to protect thugs from other thugs. Nothing was wrong with that, was there? This was all to earn all that pointless money faster, in her own way.

With her army of soldiers, she controlled each and every one in her mind. Sometimes, it was exhausting, watching through the eyes of fifty clones. Then again, she was _somewhat_ omniscient. She could see everything through water, and it's kind of disturbing to her. She never really tapped into it unless it was needed. Plus, it only worked with the liquids that she had control over. Sometimes, they don't beckon to her call. She tried controlling coffee, it didn't retain its brown color.

She finally entered the warehouse, as Neptune, the sadistic crime lord.

"Boss, we just got done loading the shipments." a thug, named Reese, greeted her. He walked up to Neptune and showed him the goods. "This new batch is a _riot_! When people get their hands on this, they'll want more in _no_ time. We'll get rich!"

Neptune glanced at the crate filled with bags of whatever these humans get addicted to. He then looked up from it and watched as the other humans walk around in the warehouse, loading and unloading trucks with the bags. It seems like it's gonna be a busy night.

"Nicely done..." Neptune replied, forcing himself to sound more charismatic. "Any news on that other guy... what's his name?"

"Sal?" Reese guessed.

Neptune snapped his fingers, even with the gloves on. "Yes, that's the one."

"Oh, he's going down in the business. No one is working for him anymore. We also robbed him. Shared the money with the whole troop, sir." Reese informed.

"Just what I like to hear." Neptune remarked. He turned his head to the thug, his eyes hidden underneath the metal helmet. "Do you know what makes humans addicted to these things that they just _desperately_ have to buy more?"

"Uh, no... I just know they make great marketing sales." the short, but still on average height, thug answered disappointingly.

"Hm. Neither do I." the shadow said. He clapped his hands together. "Well then, what's the word with the police?"

"Uh..." Reese looked at the ground. "They suspect nothing?"

" _Perfect_." Neptune gleamed. The shadow began to walk away, heading out the warehouse. "I'm leaving now. I was just checking."

"Well, it's nice having you as the boss here." Reese complimented, saluting him.

"Thanks." Neptune replied smugly. "I never thought I'd hear that in a business like this."

"Oh, it's fine. It's just... Most of us... We're just desperate to earn money. I'm not sure if you have one, but I have a family. This is the only job that I think supports enough." Reese informed, "Your new leadership helps my wife and my kids. And that no drugs to kids policy. _Respect_." He gave a fist bump, that only touched the air between them.

"I'm happy to hear you think that." Neptune stated. "But I'm sorry to say that I'm not that kind of guy."

"Hmm?"

"I never really valued any of you guys. It just started with you." Neptune went over and gave the thug a pat on the back, for encouragement. "Here..." Neptune pushed a wad of bills into his hands. "...for your family, Reese."

The thug blinked, holding back tears. "Thanks..."

"Thank you for talking to me." Neptune started walking away, finally able to exit on a good note.

* * *

Lapis returned from "work", and decided that she couldn't do this halfheartedly.

There were just many people out there who have good morals, but were desperate to earn money that they sunk into such a hazardous workplace. It was depressing, seeing humans work in such conditions. Maybe this was what Rose saw that was interesting to her, and why she decided to fight for this planet. She saw how these people lived their own lives, and it fascinated her to see how life had its ups and downs. They truly were sentient.

The blue Gem entered the apartment, and found Steven and Connie sitting around the kitchen counter, with one of them creating something. Lapis smiled at the two, seeing how innocent they were in making their sandwiches. She didn't want them to stray to the path those people did, and wanted them to have good lives.

 _Huh, I thought of "them". Steven and Connie._ Lapis thought. _I didn't just think of Steven. I thought of_ them _._

"Lapis! I didn't see you there." Steven went over to hug her around the waist, since that's all he could reach. "Connie showed me how to make a sandwich. It's not like those in stores. We made them ourselves!"

"Haha, _fascinating_."

* * *

 **A/N: This just... it... _sigh_ , the whole chapter wrote itself. I don't know what to say, I never intended for some scenes to happen. It just... _happened_.**

 **I had no idea where I was going with this. All I knew was that I wanted to make Lapis do some cool shady thing. Now I don't know whether I should continue making scenes of Lapis with her drug cartel. But I do know, that the next two chapters won't have it. But after that, if you want, I could write more of it. But if you don't, I'll minimise it to a few mentions.**

 **This chapter's name was a reference to chapter one, where Steven said, "Everyone likes sausages but we don't like how it's made." So, yeah, the sausage factory.**

 **Next chapter's name: "New Kid: The Platypus" All of you probably know what's going down next chapter.**

 **P.S. about the swearing and cursing thing going around the story, I only use it for characters that have them roll off the tongue. So, Steven won't ever truly curse, maybe some made up word. Also, I don't think the swearing could get this to an M rating. Because this is rated for _teens_... they know a lot about the world. Besides, I don't drop the F-bomb. Not on here, at least.**


	5. Chapter 4: New Kid: The Platypus

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 4: _New Kid: The Platypus_**

* * *

The tall, green Gem's eyes fixated at the school.

She then glanced down at her screen, seeing the last trace of the Rose Quartz Gem being indicated just behind the tall fences. The Gem, named _Peridot_ , felt her lips tugging at the sides. She looked around, and back at the school, which had a black fence gate around it, that extended upwards to about ten feet. The place was guarded, but it was just so poorly done.

"Interesting. It seems there's no sign that the Rose Quartz Gem fled. It stayed here all day." she remarked. "And she's in some temple of raised defense." She tapped the fence pole experimentally, wanting to see what it does. "Those nimrods didn't do anything to strengthen their defense system. What a shame. They won't know what hit them."

Peridot placed a hand on her chin, thinking on how to get over the gate.

"If I fly, I would gain rapid attention to some onlookers." she told herself, all the while getting weird looks by some passersby. "My Gem tech could easily alarm them. I will have to do the espionage dependent on my true physical form."

She cracked her knuckles, which weren't there, and started to do some basic Gem stretching to get her hard-light body ready. She did some arm exercises and leg exercises, making sure her limbs were prepared for what's to come.

She dashed at the fence gate and jumped to her highest altitude, where she grabbed hold of the poles. Her fingers strapped themselves around the metal bar, making sure she clung to it. Peridot smiled, thinking that she had the plan working with her. She may actually be able to trespass their security with her awesome skills, like climbing the fence. She hurriedly climbed to the top of the fence, wary that people _may_ or may not find her suspicious.

She swung a leg over to the other side of the gate, trying to give herself a moment's rest. She laid there for a couple minutes, breathing heavily and sweating under the intense activity. Peridot finally went back to the plan, and brought her entire body over the fences. She looked down at the opposite side of the fence and saw a _long_ way to the floor. A ten feet drop to be precise. That would be _devastating_. Carefully, she straddled down to the school grounds, making sure she had a firm grip of the iron ledge.

Suddenly, a few pigeons flew over and stood on the top of the fence, one of them pecking at her robotic fingers. Peridot yelped, waving them away with her prosthetic forearm.

"Away! Away!" she shouted. The pigeons fluttered around, before coming back to the ledge. Peridot kept waving with one hand, before thinking she should scare them away with _two_.

What a _brilliant_ plan.

"Oh. CLOOO—" Peridot felt herself being pulled by gravity, and in less than an instant—SLAM—she hit the concrete floor. The Gem bit her lip so she wouldn't scream in pain from the agony she recently suffered. She felt her back burning and her limbs crushed under the impact. She decided to not move until the pain went away, so that she could have the full effectiveness of her limbs.

She stayed there for fifteen minutes, waiting for that dizziness in her head to go away. She prayed to the Diamonds that she didn't get spotted, and watched as the clouds flew past her. Peridot felt her body being in an uncomfortable position, so she readjusted her limbs so that they didn't look like she just fell, and stayed like that for a few more minutes. It was relaxing.

"Okay! Enough resting. Work is in order..." she muttered, feeling at a hundred percent. She slowly stood up, dusting herself off and rubbing her elbows and knees to warm up again. "Got to make sure I'm fully prepared again. Who knows what goes on in this _treachery_."

She looked around and opened her screen, displaying the information she had gathered while hacking their satellites. This was a "school", and there was a "playground". She headed over to the spot where Rose's Gem was last sensed.

"A "school"... this place is an institution for learning. If I get in, I'll be able to learn their secrets, and Yellow Diamond would be so proud that I've got info on Earth." Peridot started sounding excited, but she composed herself a second afterwards. "First thing's first, the task at hand. Find the Rose Quartz Gem."

She stopped walking once she reached her destination, and looked up from her screen. She expected at least a trace of Rose Quartz's Gem. But mostly, she hoped Rose was just sitting there unprotected, so she could get poofed easily. But that didn't happen.

Nothing was there.

It was just the ground she was looking at.

"I thought I upgraded this thing two months ago! It should be running smoothly." Peridot remarked, looking at her screen in different positions. "Where's the Gem? It should _be_ here. That's where it was!"

She sat on the pavement ground, touching the spot where Rose Quartz Gem was last found. Her gadgets only detected the energy of Rose Quartz, and it was right there in that exact spot the last time it activated. So, that means the Rose Quartz Gem had been used and deactivated at this point some time ago. Peridot felt a thought strike her. What if... Rose Quartz knew how to hide her power readings?

 _Of course!_ Peridot thought, standing up. _The energy reader only picks up the radiation emitted from the Gem being used! Rose Quartz must've used something to block the radiation, like the solid material "lead" they have here on Earth. They say that it blocks even gamma radiation, so it must be that! Rose Quartz blocked her signal!_

Basking in her own ingeniousness, she did a small dance around the spot, before stopping, thinking of how unprofessional that might've looked.

"I should... start thinking of where Rose Quartz could've gone." Peridot began walking away, but stopped in her tracks. "Buuut, this " _school_ " is an institute of education! Which means she might've used her Gem to show the "students" about the Gem and tell them about homeworld." The green Gem gasped, "She's building an army! They know too much now!"

She immediately began running around, trying to find Rose Quartz in the school to stop her teachings. The technician sprinted into the hallways of the school, her steps clattering around the place. Nobody seemed to be around. The school was closed for the day. She kept running as if her life depended on it, and tried to find the pink Gem in the maze-like school. There were so many rooms, it was so easy to get lost in the halls.

To Peridot, this school was a trap. She had been captured and sent into some kind of "pocket dimension", like the Gems' rooms, and left there to rot away forever. The green Gem panicked, starting to sweat nervously and grit her teeth.

"I'm lost." she thought out loud, frantically scratching her triangle head. "There's no way out. I'm stuck in this... in this..." Peridot thought for a second. "...fourth, is it fourth? Yes, it's fourth... _Fourth_ _dimension_!" she wailed dramatically, "There's no escape."

Suddenly, a white paper on the wall caught her eye. It was labelled "map".

Her panic stopped as she stared at the pinboard. "Huh, that was convenient." Peridot ripped the paper display and took it for herself. "Let's see, I'm here..." She poked at the paper, and to her surprise, it crumpled. Her face contorted into disgust. "Yeesh. Plastic paper. No such thing as paper on homeworld, but _plastic_? So redundant."

Peridot found the principal's room, and to her knowledge, the "principal" of the school was the main leader and mastermind. If she could find this principal, then she could find Rose—No, better yet, if she was lucky... Rose Quartz could be the principal.

First, she needed to disguise herself. Peridot opened her screen and began to plan.

* * *

Later...

"So, you want to be a teacher at this school?" the principal asked unbelievingly.

The principal room was the most stressful workplace Peridot ever saw. Papers were littered around, files weren't put in order, the decorations and entertainment were highly outdated and boring, and the desk was filled with piles of workload. It was a miracle that the principal even had time to deal with her.

But Peridot was most disatisfied that this earthling was the principal instead of Rose Quartz. If Rose wasn't the most influencial here, then that must mean... _no_. That can't be. Rose couldn't be poofed yet. This place was so ancient! There's no way that the humans could have possibly done that! Rose was just hiding. This was her smart plan, to fool her into thinking she wasn't here! Aha! Peridot was winning!

"Uh, yes. I want to be a teacher." Peridot replied, trying to sound as humanly as possible. She knew thata "teacher" is able to influence the students about what they're learning. So, if she's able to get that position in the school, she could stop Rose's brainwashing. Yes, Peridot's a hero to homeworld!

But she didn't know a thing about Earth. When she went for the interview, she didn't even conceal herself. She was _still_ in her Gem outlook. The principal noticed this the instant she came in and decided to list that as a negative. He couldn't really say anything about her green skin, since he felt it seemed offensive to ask that.

"Do you have a degree?" he asked.

Peridot looked around. "Is that necessary?"

The Principal, James, wasn't stupid. So he began to play her game. "No, it is not. Did you think it was?"

"Uh... _no_." she answered.

"Would it be okay if you show me your degree in teaching?" he asked.

Not knowing what a "degree" is, she knew she had under-researched and was doomed. "No."

"Do you have a _strabo_?" he inquired.

"Is it necessary to have one?" Peridot asked.

"Yes." the principal said.

"Oh. Then I have one." she lied. "It's in... my house."

"Well then, you can't be a teacher in this school." James informed, "Since, you seem to have a "starbo", a made-up word I created to test you."

Peridot raised a brow, completely befuddled. "A starbo isn't real?"

"It isn't." he answered. "Neither is a degree."

"I knew it!" she whispered, snapping her fingers.

"Actually, the degree is real." he stated.

"I... knew that _as well_!" Peridot lied.

"You're not from here, are you?" James asked, finally relaxed instead of stressed. This encounter was an entertaining event.

Peridot's eyes darted to the corners of the room. "I _am_ from here. I just don't know a lot of things..." In that instant, she came up with a new plan. "...actually, I will go and never return to this place." she responded in a monotone way. Peridot stood from the chair, and left the room, never taking her eyes off of the principal. James shrugged and continued his work.

* * *

No less than a minute later...

"I want to be a student of this school!" Peridot exclaimed. She had taken off her limb enhancers, and was about the height of a ten year-old, perfect for an undercover student. Her limb enhancers were given to a hologram she created, which was supposed to be her "dumb and unreliable guardian" as she informed. Then she entered the room with a new persona.

The espionage courses weren't this hard on homeworld. Mostly because Gems looked the same and taking jobs were just a flick of a hologram. They didn't have to go through what Peridot was doing. In fact, she could tell that she was probably the most successful, which was why they chose her, a technician, as a spy on this planet.

But to be fair, she was the most all-around and well-balanced technician in all ranges of homeworld's purposes. She even passed obedience tests. Only Pearls do that. So, with her being the most versatile and charming Gem on homeworld, she was given the "easy" task of coming to Earth.

"Name?" James asked, taking a pen and ready to write her report.

"Perry..." she paused, trying to make it seem like separate words. "...Dott."

James matched the same pause Peridot did. " _Perry_... _Dott_." he mimicked. "Yeah, why not? You might as well add a _middle_ name, like, let's say... Benjamin."

"Benjamin?" she raised a brow.

"Perry Benjamin Dott." the principal said, trying to support her secret identity. "No?"

"That's not my name." Peridot stated.

The principal sighed audibly. "Fine, Perry _Dott_." James remarked, clicking his pen. To his investigation, this strange creature was stubborn and didn't want help. "But it's not as inconspicuous."

"Are you hinting that you think I'm a Peridot?" she asked. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not like that smart, green Gem. I'm small and young and not as beautiful."

James kept repeatedly clicking his pen. "Full of yourself much?"

"For the last time, I am not Peridot! My name's _Perry_... Dott." she huffed.

The principal stared at her for a little while, unable to believe that this was happening. One day this green woman showed up in his room, seemed to not know a thing about teaching even though she wanted to be a teacher, returned only to show that she was actually a child and that she had robotic limbs the first time he saw her, and now she wants to be a student at his school. What a day.

James still kept his cool though.

"First question... you're not crazy, are you?" he asked, tired half-lidded eyes looking at her.

"No. What makes you think that? This is what normal is where I come from." Peridot retorted.

"Okay, I can take that answer." The principal opened his drawer, took out a stapled pile of papers, and gave it to the green Gem. "Take this test. It'll evaluate your position in the school."

Peridot loved tests. It was the only way she could prove that she was smarter than the rest of the Gems on homeworld. So, when she received the papers, the only thing she couldn't stop herself from doing, was smirking really wide. She would prove that she was currently the smartest being on this planet, and she would prove that the Earth test was no match for her intellect.

* * *

A few moments later...

"Three plus five?" Peridot chuckled evilly. "Oh, _please_... give me a challenge. Eight."

* * *

The next minute...

"If three cats are able to catch three mice in three days, how many days will it take for a hundred cats to catch a hundred mice?" Peridot hummed, "You can't trick me... the answer is three."

* * *

Three minutes later...

"If the opposite and adjacent are three and four respectively, what is the hypotenuse?" Peridot rolled her eyes. "Pfft, it's five, duh."

* * *

Half an hour later...

"I've done it!" Peridot flailed the papers around wildly, before slamming it onto James' desk.

The principal checked it for a few moments, before declaring, "You actually got the trigonometry question right. Hmph, even _calculus_. You're too smart."

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"I can only send you to the school next door."

"NO!" she shouted sharply.

"Very well. Fifth grade it is." James replied coolly. "School starts tomorrow. I'm not even gonna bother with you, Perry Dott."

"My name's Peridot! Not Perry Do..." she paused, pointing fingers. "I mean, my name's Perido—No, that's not right. I am Perry Dott. Perry Dott. _Perry_... _Dott_." The Gem repeated the statement all over again, but corrected it this time. "My name's Perry Dott! Not _Peridot_!"

He rolled his eyes, smirking. "Riiight."

The small Gem jumped off the chair and stomped her way out of the room. She entered again, only to command her hologram to follow her out.

* * *

The next day...

Steven and Connie were sitting together on a bench, reading a book, when a green kid caught the boy's eye. He stopped reading, lowered the Spirit Morph Saga book, and pointed at the weird new kid in the middle of the playground. She was taller than the other kids, but it was because she had a big triangular head. Or hair. No one was able to tell.

"Who's that?" the demigem asked, causing Connie to get a better look at her.

"I don't know. She must be new. I've never seen her before." she informed.

"Wait, that guy's a girl?" Steven exclaimed bewilderedly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Connie retorted, chuckling. Steven frowned and crossed his arms, in which she knew was the "it's not funny" expression. She patted his back. "Come on, it's not like she's human. She's _green_. For all we know, she could be a guy."

"Maybe it's just a _rare_ skin disease." Steven argued, looking away disappointingly.

"Just like Lapis?" Connie stated, raising a brow in a deadpan manner.

Steven softened up, realizing her point. "Huh, you're right." He looked at the green girl, who was trying to gain the attention of the cool kids. "Should we help her? You know, from _them_." he asked.

Connie shook her head. "I want to see how this plays out."

They watched as Peridot entered their gang of cool kids, shuffling through them and being in the middle.

"She got in?" the demigem inquired, amazed.

"Maybe." his best friend shrugged.

* * *

After lunch...

Both Steven and Connie were eating their lunch together on the same bench, legs kicking under the wooden seat. They were enjoying their sandwiches, when they saw Peridot getting kicked out of the school doors, and left alone on the ground. The other students ignored her well-being, and walked around her, not thinking once about helping her.

"Should we help her?" Steven asked, needing permission from his bestie.

"Yeah," the bookworm shrugged, "What's the worst she could do?"

Steven stood from the bench and walked up to Peridot, lending her a hand. The green Gem saw him reaching out for her, but she didn't make a response. Today was a strange day. She had to go undercover, ditching her limb enhancers and acting as the new kid. While being around the circle of "cool kids", nobody listened to her demands to know what they were learning in the school. But to her knowledge, they were all idiots.

"Uh, hello? Are you still alive?" the demigem worriedly asked.

"What do you want?" Peridot tiredly managed.

"I want to help you up." Steven gave a warm smile, trying to encourage the new kid.

"You'll be sorry." she replied.

"Come on, it can't be that bad." Seeing how she tried to avoid his hand, Steven forcefully pulled her up by the arm, albeit her squirms. "What's the worst you can do?" he repeated.

"I can be the _worst_ if you want me to!" Perry threatened, snatching her wrist back.

 _Weird._ Steven thought. "What's your name?"

"Hm?"

"Your name?" he asked.

"It's Perry." she answered, still in her secret spy mode. "Perry Dott."

Steven grinned, finally making progress. "Nice to meet you Perry Dott. I'm Steven Lazuli."

There was silence.

And then the homeworld spy responded.

"Strange name. Do _all_ humans have strange names like you?" Peridot questioned, putting a finger on her chin. Steven's eyes sparkled at the sight of his new friend.

* * *

 **A/N: I could've updated sooner. It's finished, but it didn't feel complete. Oh well, it's complete enough. Peridot later... or _not_. DUN DUN DUUN**

 **I don't know whether to continue Lapis' shady business in the story. If you want, I've got, like, the next chapter free of Lapis and the following chapter after that still in the idea department. So, I could start a vote here on what is Lapis actually doing in the background. Is she trying to help the economy, or going to meetings, or attending a public community debate on security and freedom?**

 **I like Marvel's _Civil War_ , just pointing that out there. I _might_ be planning the same feud to imitate it. I've just got lots of different ideas that I don't think anyone else has thought of. (But they're only able for the future) I'll give one hint: 55 cancri e**

 **Breaking News: This chapter's title came from _Phineas and Ferb_! Do you see the reference? If no, then I'll just say that _Perry_ is the name of a _platypus_ in that cartoon series. Ah? Aah? Isn't that smart? I'm so smart. None of you ever guessed. (sarcasm)**

 **All of you knew it was Peridot, didn't you?**

 **Next chapter's title: "Shapeshifting Queen"**


	6. Chapter 5: Shapeshifting Queen

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 5: _Shapeshifting Queen_**

* * *

Amethyst hated the air of tension in the temple.

The purple Gem was just minding her own business in her room, when all of the sudden, there was a wave of anger and hatred around the place. She couldn't _literally_ feel the emotions, but she _could_ feel the temperature getting hotter and at the same time she felt the chills.

She felt the _chills_ while she thought she was gonna _melt_ to death.

What the heck was going on here? What is logic anymore?

Her own dump of a room had to be shared. At least a portion of it. Their rooms were created in a singular pocket dimension, enabling them to enter a reality where it seems everything was larger on the inside than the outside. And that was correct. Her room was part of an otherworldly dimension that was shared between four Gems.

Now, they needed space for _five_.

One to accommodate her, another for her leader, two for the grudges, and the last one to honor a deceased commander. Really, they should've done a better job at dividing the rooms. But Amethyst wasn't willing to do it, she knew she would mess it up. She wasn't as precise and delicate as Pearl would do for the division of rooms.

In her cramped room, she almost didn't have space to breathe with twenty percent of her place being used for something else. Now all her junk needed to be more compact and pressed together, making for less space. Amethyst wanted to shake her fist at the other Gems for cursing her with this burden, but at the same, she felt she was responsible for everything that had happened.

She knew that recently... everything was a mess. Amethyst knew Pearl was insane by now, but was too strong to show it. Then, there was... the _other_ problem.

She didn't want to think of it.

Amethyst felt guilty for not being there. For bailing at the most prominent moment in her entire life. Her maternal figure gave birth to a son, and with that, she felt like Steven was her brother. Back then, she thought of all the little things she would teach him. Eating, sleeping, having fun. Then when she realized he started out as a baby, she left him alone with the other Gems to take care of because she didn't know how to deal with _babies_.

She could've accidentally killed him! What were her gals thinking when they asked her to carry him for a moment?! She might just carry the baby, and _whoops_ , he fell on his head. Or, she might just crush him under her embrace. Normally, it would be Garnet who would be a thinking like this, but Amethyst couldn't help but think that way. She had always been so brash and irresponsible with her power that she thought she might not control herself around him.

Amethyst didn't know how to take care of Steven! She only knew how to take care of a smart person. Babies aren't smart enough. And they're fragile.

She bailed. She bailed on the baby's crying to watch some dumb show. That television program ruined her _life_. If she wasn't so impatient, or so uncaring, she would've been able to prevent Steven from being kidnapped. She would've been able to help when Lapis showed up and took away everything they cared about. She could've, at the very _least_ , been there.

She should've toughened up, endured a few more minutes around the baby, waited for Lapis, and _maybe_ smack her back into the mirror. No, she'd punch her until she cracked. Amethyst would do anything to return back to that time. There was that one temple under the sea, which could alter time itself, but there were so many hourglasses. And since it's under the _sea_ , Lapis Lazuli had probably already claimed the place and mostly wrecked it to make sure they never get the chance of undoing it.

The painful memory of finding out that Steven was kidnapped scarred her. It left a mark on her, a giant bruise she couldn't get rid off and would always wince at when touched. She felt like a part of her was missing. Maybe because she devoted so much time trying to prove to Rose Quartz that she was a good Gem, then her life revolved around her, and then it passed on to her son... and then he vanished.

Was Steven still alive? Lapis said he was.

That ocean Gem better be telling the truth, because if she found out that Steven had... "poofed" a _long_ time ago... she swore she would _destroy_ Lapis, _tear_ her from limb to limb, _shatter_ her Gem, turn it into dust, and leave it in a bubble for _all eternity_.

Amethyst sighed, trying to think of a better punishment. She thought it wasn't enough of a penalty for Lapis. She wanted to torture her till she broke. She just wanted to... She just wanted to eradicate her from existence. Amethyst couldn't think of a word hateful enough to express her feelings.

She remembered seeing the distraught face of Greg. It _destroyed_ him. It terrified Amethyst to see him like that. He went away to be alone with himself, then he, kind of... kicked the bucket.

The purple Gem felt the room get stuffy and wet around her eyes, so she fled off outside to clear her thoughts with human contact. Vidalia, her old pal, was probably too busy with her own family, so she didn't want to bother her. It's been eight years though. Amethyst still didn't feel like seeing her. It reminded her too much of Greg. They were old friends.

The purple Gem stepped out of her room, and into reality, where everything was happening and you couldn't escape it. Amethyst walked around the unfinished house, and walked out the front door, which had no door because it simply wasn't made. She spotted a white letter by the door which smelled of sea salt.

 _Lapis' letters._ Amethyst snorted. _It's probably something she made up about their location so we can spend months on a wild goose chase._

She was about to pick it up, but decided not to, so that Pearl could have the satisfaction of finding it first.

Amethyst walked down the wooden stairs of the temple, taking a stroll down the beach. As she walked, she picked up a pebble and chucked it as hard as she can at the ocean. It splattered and sunk into it, never skipping. She never learned how to make the rocks skip like Greg or Vidalia had done it.

Nevertheless, she kept walking on the sandy beach, keeping a ten meter distance between her and the waves. Water was something she didn't like. Maybe it was because of Lapis. Maybe she pretended to drown in it once while trying to find Steven. But at that time, she actually tried to drown for _real_ , forming a set of lungs so that she'd fill it with water. Pearl had stopped her from doing so, and restricted anyone committing suicide. Although, that was already restricted in the first place.

Amethyst continued walking for a bit, before getting tired of using her feet, and morphed into something else. She shrunk down and grew feathers, turning into a purple owl and taking off into the sky. She let out a cry as she flew into the clouds, feeling a cooling sensation as she went through them. She glided in the air for a few more moments, before skydiving into a random city.

She didn't know where she was. But she knew that she was far enough to be able to scare people by talking to them as some kind of animal. It always amused her.

First, she landed on a telephone pole, finding her victim. The victim was a man in his twenties, standing for a zebra crossing. Amethyst made her call. "Cuckoo!"

He turned his head toward her, staring.

Amethyst did it again. "Tweet!"

The victim's face showed confusion. Owls tend to go "hoo". What was this owl doing?

"I can talk." Amethyst finally said, letting his mind go _kaboom_. His eyes widened at her, before he staggered and ran away, screaming silently. The purple owl shrugged, thinking the reaction wasn't as good. "Eh, one point for me."

She flew away, heading to another telephone pole to land on. She spotted her victim. This time it was a bored woman. Besides her, was her husband, who was on the phone. Amethyst rubbed her wings together, sneering maliciously.

"Hey, you should ditch your husband right now." the owl said.

The woman stood upright like she was shocked, and looked around alarmingly.

"CUCKOO, LADY!" Amethyst shouted, scaring the living crud out of her.

The distraught woman jumped, clutching onto her heart and lacing her arm around her husband's. The man looked interrupted, and clearly angered by it.

"Charles! Charle—" She pointed at Amethyst. "Owl! OWL!"

"Yeah, it's an... _owl_." Charles replied, lowering his phone.

"It talked." the woman added quickly.

"Nonsense!" her husband stated, stressing his profession with birds. "Owls don't have a thick enough tongue to speak. Unlike a parrot. You're hallucinating, Glenda."

Glenda stammered, "But—but it—"

"Hey! I'm a _gal_ , thank you very much!" Amethyst informed, ignoring the fact that her species was genderless.

Charles looked at the owl with a hanging mouth, while Glenda yelled with triumph. "Yes! I knew I wasn't crazy! IN _YOUR FACE_ , CHARLES!" She smacked her husband on his back, not wanting to hit him in the face.

"And this is reality check 101. I'll be around all night. Or not. Probably _not_." Amethyst said, flapping her wings to fly away. She left the couple with newfound information that birds can talk. Well, at least Charles was starting to take notes while Glenda had already put the memory behind.

Amethyst flew over many streets, trying to find her new victim in broad daylight. She glided her way towards a light post, and found a young boy walking down the street. Amethyst swooped down and thought of frightening the boy. She flew around him, and he stepped to the side, crying, "Woah, there!"

Amethyst flew back into the sky, before skydiving back to the boy, who just stood there, enamored. There were stars in his eyes, as the owl swooped past him again. Grinning, he followed the owl to her whereabouts, waiting for her to fly around him.

 _Huh, this guy's special. Maybe I should talk—see if that scares him._ Amethyst thought.

She swooped down, fluttering her wings to slow down when she was in front of him. Amethyst crashed into his chest purposefully, wanting him to carry her and let out the big reveal. Slowing down did help reduce the pain. The boy smiled, carrying the owl in his arms.

"You like me, don't ya?" he asked, thinking that's the reason it was flying around him.

"Yeah, maybe so." the owl said, uncovering her face.

"Woah!" The boy yelped, as the owl flew out of his grasp. "You... You _talk_?"

"Eager one, aren't ya?" Amethyst inquired, flapping her wings to hover in the air. "Ya know, most people would run around in circles and scream when they see me."

"Are you... my _familiar_?" he asked, amazed.

"A _what_ now?" Amethyst replied, tilting her feathery head.

"My familiar... you know, like in the books." the boy answered.

"Dude, those things are _imaginary_. None of it is real." the purple owl informed, swaying her wing down. "Unlike me! A talking owl! Hoo hoo!"

The boy shook his head. "That's not what an owl sounds like."

"Bleh! That trash. Only _real_ owls sound this way." Amethyst replied. She then thought of an idea. "Anyway, I'm here to lead you on a journey to find your magic side!" she said charismatically, pulling the boy into her act. "First, I need your name. Calling you "boy" sounds boring."

"My name's Steven."

Amethyst felt herself crack inside. Now, she felt as if she needed to apologize about what happened a decade ago. But, he couldn't be the Steven they had. Lapis had him trapped somewhere. This Steven was as free as a bird! He couldn't be the baby she was scared of carrying ten years ago.

 _Yeah. He isn't the Steven I'm looking for._ Amethyst reassured herself. "Hmph, sounds familiar. Your last name?"

"Um, _Lazuli_?" Steven answered.

"Steven Leslie. That's so unoriginal. I mean, having a basic "everyone has it" name on two sides." Amethyst laughed.

"Actually, it's... never mind." Steven waved his hand down.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well, you pronounced my last name wrong." he stated, looking down. He was a bit shameful that someone else couldn't say it correctly.

"So? It's Steven Leslie, right?" Amethyst asked.

"Lazuli."

"Leslie."

" _Lazuli_." he asserted.

"Leslie! What's the difference? We both have different accents." Amethyst informed, making a point. Steven nodded at this, seeing her viewpoint.

"I see." he assured.

"So, do you want to join me on an adventure!" the owl asked, landing on his shoulder. Steven dusted his red shirt that had a yellow star on the front and on his shoulders. He had white sleeves that extended to his forearms.

"Just like the Spirit Morph Saga! Oh, do I have a dead, awesome, warrior-like father that had done some bad things to protect his loved ones and the world, only to be found alive and actually in undercover as a secret agent for the government?!" he asked excitedly.

"Uh, _yes_ , you probably do." Amethyst answered nonchalantly.

Steven frowned. "You're supposed to keep that as a secret from me!"

Amethyst shrugged, not caring. "Hey, it _was_ gonna be revealed sooner or later."

Steven looked at her dejectedly. This was either a joke, or she didn't care that she told him about his dead, but actually undercover, father. It was supposed to be a _secret_! "So, where are we off to?" he asked.

"To the _dumps_! The most magical place on Earth!" she snickered, pointing her wing in front. "Follow _me_!" The owl flew from Steven's shoulder to the skies, and the boy had to catch up with her. Amethyst kept herself low, so that Steven could still see her. She wanted to get as much as possible from this. Maybe have Steven as her new friend. To fill the whole she had for ten years. The owl morphed into a falcon midway, thinking she would be much faster.

"You _changed_!" Steven yelled, running after the bird.

"Of course I did!" Amethyst grinned, even though she had only a beak to show. She slowed down to fly by Steven's side. "I'm _magic_!"

"Haha... hahaha!" Steven laughed, feeling an energy rush through him. Excitement awaited him; an adventure of the lifetime! Any thought of deception he had was left in the dust. "This is gonna be _awesome_!"

* * *

"This is _not_ what I expected."

Amethyst was standing on Steven's raised arm as a ledge. The boy looked around in amazement, while the violet Gem looked bored. They were in the dumps, and Amethyst didn't realize how boring it actually was. Everything here was _literally_ garbage. And Pearl thought her room was filled with useless junk... look at this! At least her room had _something_ entertaining.

"This is everything I expected." Steven replied eagerly, gazing at the sights of the dump.

"I didn't think it would be this boring." the purple falcon said, cocking her head to the side. "Where's all the fun stuff? Like the couches and sofas people use to jump on?"

" _Violet_ , this is the dump. Of course there's nothing of use here." the boy informed. "But I bet there's _some_ magic that you promised."

Amethyst raised a brow. "Did you just call me _Violet_?"

"Yeah, why? Isn't that your name?" he inquired.

"No."

Steven blinked at her. "Oh."

"You can call me... _Amethyst_." she stated with a sparkle in her name.

"Mm." Steven replied, "Like the gem?"

"You got a problem with that?" she retorted offendedly.

"Oh, _no_. It's just... I have this connection to gems. It's really weird. You're probably not into it." he answered.

Amethyst shrugged. "Whatever you say."

Steven looked around. "What are we supposed to do in a dump?" he asked.

"I was planning to do cannonballs into the water. But I guess Earth isn't a four dimensional reality after all. This is all three dimensional stuff." she stated.

"Why are you talking about the fourth dimension when you say you're magic?" Steven asked. "The fourth dimension is something a science fiction book would have."

"Don't you see? They're _connected_." Amethyst said, touching her wings together.

"I don't know." Steven replied cautiously. "Could you explain?"

"I'm no good at explaining." Amethyst flapped her wings around to hover. "But, if you want, we could go somewhere else. It's _super_ boring in here."

Steven glanced at the watch he had. "Sorry, Amethyst, but I have to go home. It's getting late."

"Oh." Amethyst looked at the sky, and saw the red tint of a sunset. She looked visibly upset by this. She never got that adventure. "Well, can't we go look around town to find something to do first?"

"Sorry, but I _really_ have to go." Steven walked away. "Maybe next time?"

"Hmm." Amethyst mused at the thought. "Next time."

She watched the boy run off into the opposite direction.

" _Next time_..."

* * *

Amethyst got back to the doorstep of the temple, but a lingering thought of visiting Vidalia made it into her mind.

 _I'll do it next time._

She stumbled across the white letter, seeing nobody pick it up. She was about to do it, but maybe Pearl would like to open it herself. So she would be the first one to receive the news. However, the contents of the letter intrigued her, and she wanted to read it first.

 _Next time._

She spotted the warp pad, and hopped onto it. Maybe she should visit the kindergarten, see the familiar sight of home. Sense the nostalgic feelings she exhibited thousands of years ago.

 _Maybe next time._

She got off the platform, and went into her room. But before that, she had an interesting thought. Maybe she could help them? Those two were once inseparable, now they were having a decade long grudge. She could help them reconcile, but without their Steven... how could one apologize to the other?

 _Next time. Promise._

She heard the warp pad activate, and saw Pearl standing on top of it, seeming to come back from the nightly trips to wherever she mourned. The white Gem walked away, never acknowledging her presence, till she turned and saw her.

"Oh, Amethyst. Hello." Pearl greeted awkwardly.

Amethyst stared at her, then down at the letter that was three steps away from the older woman. "Hi." the purple Gem responded.

Pearl turned around and picked up the letter. She turned her head to the other Gem. "Have you seen this before?"

"No," she lied.

The white Gem clutched the paper to her chest. "Would you... like to read it with me?"

 _Next time..._

Amethyst shook that thought out of her head.

"Yeah. Why not?" she shrugged.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay, Crystal Gem activity. That was depressing. Well, since my writing is locked on the "lazy" mode, I may not give the feels I hoped to give.**

 **And Amethyst was _so_ close. Steven was _right_ there. He didn't even try to hide it. Oh well, next chapter will be focusing on what Pearl was actually doing. If you really thought she was just mourning around in Rose's facilities—to quote Pearl, "you're not even close!"**

 **Let's just say, I've been dealing with the idea that Pearl needs a leader, and if there's no leader around, she'll go find another one to serve. Even I** **don't know what to expect. I only have a plan.**

 **Breaking News: This chapter's title was based around... well, actually, it's straightforward. It's just Amethyst's title of the shapeshifting queen. It's literally just that.**

 **Next chapter's title: "Teardrop from the Moon"**


	7. Chapter 6: Teardrop from the Moon

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 6: _Teardrop from the Moon_**

* * *

Pearl never really went to mourn for her loss anymore.

She never went to any of Rose's old facilities. Not to the armory, not to the fountain, not even to the floating islands where she made that promise.

Instead, she kept going to a secret place, filled with the bliss of accomplishing her goals. She felt accepted, just like how Rose made her feel. She was a servant, but a twisted one. And by _twisted_ , it meant she was a servant to war. She could only remember the times where she fought alongside Rose during the Rebellion, her only happiness. The memories of war changed her, from a servant to a warrior.

Now, she was fighting alone. Without Rose around, not even her _Gem_ was around, made her feel incomplete. She was made to serve leaders. And with her gone, so was her mission. She had to find a way to vent her life on. This was her last string on to her sanity, without it, she would be directionless, lost, without purpose.

She liked the Earth's government. It was clean, tidy, secure... all of the things she loved. It was perfect. But the world isn't, so leaders of a secret society were brought together to make it perfect. And Pearl was willing to serve that society. Instead of rebelling, she was helping the government. She advocated world peace, the thing that Rose wanted to fight for but was only able to fight for its survival. _And_ , Pearl was supported by powerful leaders.

Pearl was supported to fight this world's impurities.

She felt at peace with this. She'd been fighting for _so_ long, thousands of years, that war was peace for her. Her serenity was to serve great leaders in battle.

With her enhanced physiology, powers and skills, she was the government's greatest ally. She was their knight, and that was what she was codenamed in the militaristic, world-saving society. The peacekeeping organization known as "The Revolution".

Pearl was Earth's Knight.

* * *

Sitting in the corner of the jet, she was clad in black and blue, a perfect camouflage for nighttime. She looked out the window and saw clouds speeding past the glass, and down below, was the ocean. She knew Lapis Lazuli had control over it, but that didn't mean she knew Pearl was there. Plus, the stealth suit she was wearing made her look human.

 _"Alright, Knight. You know what to do. Standard hostage mission. Use stealth. Oil rig is infested with eighteen pirates."_ the pilot said, his voice booming through the speakers of the aircraft. Worriedly, he added, _"Are you sure you want to do this alone?"_

Pearl stood up. Sliding her visor down, she sighed, "I'm sure." She looked at the cockpit. "But I'm even more sure that the Revolution sent a backup."

The pilot said nothing.

"Your silence indicates it is true." Pearl said.

 _"Yeah... they sent a team of soldiers ready to help when you fail."_ the pilot informed.

The white Gem scoffed, "That's assuring."

 _"I'm sure you'll be able to do this on your own. You're a Gem. You have powers. You're probably more effective when alone."_ the pilot remarked.

"No." Pearl shook her head. "I've got someone to inform me about this and bring me here."

The pilot looked back. _"You're saying I'm your partner?"_

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

"I will have to go." Pearl said, slamming the red button for the exit. The jet's back door opened, which was usually for dropping cars off, but in this case, it was for dropping Pearl off to the pirate-infested oil rig. "See you later!" she yelled over the wind, before jumping off the plane.

As she fell, she could feel the air whizz past her, clouds fogging her sight until she reached a point in the altitude where the clouds became less dense. Pearl could see the outline of the oil rig, lights blazing in the nightly ocean. The waves were harsh, the moon was out, people were seen patrolling the place. She calculated her own plan out, slowing her descent into the waters by changing form in the air.

At the last possible second, she shapeshifted to the size of a pebble, making a small plop into the sea.

She hated shapshifting, but it was necessary for her to not be seen.

Pearl reformed into her natural state, and swam under the ocean currents, not needing to hold her breath because she was a Gem. Underwater, she could make out the two cranes on opposite sides of the raised platform, as well as a giant tower in the middle. There were four thick poles holding the oil rig above waters, and Pearl knew they had ladders on them. She latched onto one, climbing up under the duress of the ocean waves.

Along the way, she found a symbol familiar to her. It was stamped on the four legs of the oil rig, and it was the Revolution's symbol: a dagger, a weapon of their choice. Swift and deadly, compact, easy to use and made best in hand-to-hand combat. It showed their appearance of being up to face in battle, and never to be messed with. Pearl found herself staring at it, and wondered why the Revolution never talked openly that the oil rig was one of their facilities when confronting her about the mission. Were they trying to keep this secret?

Nevertheless, she climbed onto the rails of the platform, making no sound as she ran around the perimeter. To her memory, she would encounter three people by one side of the platform, all guarding the entrance to the equipment. Oil was very valuable to Earth's economy, so stealing the roots of the tree first was a guaranteed, but difficult, success. Unless, there was someone superhuman like Pearl to stop their theft.

So, three pirates guarding one storage room. Easy enough.

But these pirates weren't like the ones Pearl encountered hundreds of years ago. No, these pirates have upgraded themselves and got with the times. They had what any professional had. And they looted ships, but an oil rig? Rare.

During the night, it seemed that Pearl was almost invisible to the background that is the near-black sky. But with the strong light coming from every five meters, it was a bit easier to spot her. But that didn't matter to her. Because once they see her, they were destined to meet their doom. She ran around the platform, her steps making as little noise as possible, and was charging at the three men that were standing guard.

As soon as they spotted her running towards them, they were too late, as she leaped at one guy, taking him down by smashing his head against the floorings, and began to spin with the momentum to take out the other with a reinforced bicycle kick. The last one was gonna sound the alarm, but Pearl got to him first, wrapping her arms around the pirate's waist, and doing a suplex, spinning the guy over so that his head struck the ground enough to form a concussion.

Pearl jumped back up, looked around, and saw the second man rising up. She kicked him by the chin, _hard_ , and his body swung a full three-sixty round like a rag doll.

 _That's three._ Pearl counted, moving on. _Fifteen more to go._

* * *

"Hey," Decker called.

"What?" Ken asked.

"Do you ever wonder what happened to fifty piece meal?" Decker questioned.

"No. It was just there." Ken replied. "Actually, now I'm curious."

Behind them, Pearl had knocked out their guard by flipping him over and punching him in the head. There was only a squirm over their little feud.

"Did you hear something?" Ken asked in a whispered tone.

Decker paused for a second, looking around to his side. "No."

Immediately afterwards, Pearl snagged Decker's foot, causing him to trip and lose his balance. She took advantage of this, and decked him in the helmet, knocking him over the railings and into the ocean. Ken was caught off guard by this, and raised his rifle, but it was snapped in half by a karate chop from Pearl, followed up by a spin kick that knocked Ken's head to the side. He held his forehead in pain, as the Gem kicked him in the jaw, sending him unconscious.

 _Six down. One more side to go. Then to head over to the center._ Pearl thought, calculating if there was enough time for anyone to notice the five people napping on the job, with one of them missing.

The white Gem headed over to the last side of the perimeter, and found four guys guarding the entrance to the lower parts of the oil rig.

She ran up to them quietly, her black and blue suit making her barely noticeable in the corner of their eyes. Pearl took someone by the head, and smashed his face in with her knee. The guy fell unconscious with a thud, alerting the others. Pearl raced to the one with the rifle, grabbing him by the wrists and pulling him in a wide arc with her strength, and then throwing the guy sideways at the other two.

THUD. The two weren't able to support the pirate's weight and fell over with him on top of them. "Ugh..." one of the men under the heavy pirate groaned, before letting his head drop, submitting defeat.

The other one pushed the pirate that trapped them and stood up, thinking of himself as a champion. He went over to the white Gem and started attacking, but was quickly countered with a pressure point to the side of his abdomen, stunning him momentarily.

Pearl used this time to kick him by the kneecap, shattering it, and struck him between the eyes, letting him fall with a broken leg. She thought if he was so persistent, she needed to match it up with a more brutal comeback to knock him down. And it worked.

The pirate that was thrown grunted, rubbing his back, as Pearl picked him up by the collar and forcefully threw him against the wall, the back of his head knocking the metal with the inertia. He slumped, going limp. Pearl unhanded him, and went over to the center of the oil rig, checking that the perimeter was secured.

 _Only eight people left._ Pearl reminded herself. _The only way people could still be hiding is through the lower part of the platform. And maybe up that tower or the cranes._ She glanced up, and with her perfect vision, she didn't see anyone up there.

Pearl tapped the Gem on her forehead.

"Lower part it is." she whispered.

A blue glow emanated from her pearl, before it zapped the ground and grew three replicas of herself, only they were holographic and were slaves to just _her_ command.

"Okay, Holopearl Uno, you check on the unconscious men. If they wake up, knock 'em back down." Pearl commanded, and the first hologram went away. "Holopearl Dos, you will check all other rooms on this floor." The second one nodded, pulling out a spear and went to check on every room. "Holopearl Tres, you will come with me to the lower floors." she informed, and the last one nodded.

Pearl ran towards the entrance to the lower part of the platform, opened the door, finding a staircase immediately in front. Instead of walking down, she slid down the railings of the stairs, with a holographic version of herself following after. She paused at the end of the stair, listening intently to the hallways. There were vibrations of footsteps just across with a turn to the left and that's where the source was. Just behind that corner.

On the other side of the hallway, a guard walked the very same corner and spotted Pearl. Before he could react, Holopearl Tres threw her spear and pinned the guard against the wall by his shoulder, stinging him as it opened up into a wound. Pearl ran over to him, bashing his face with the palm of her hand, and moved on, knowing he would be unconscious from the blow. Holopearl Tres pulled her spear back, letting the guard fall to the floor.

Pearl went across the corridor and stopped by the door that was at the end of it. Holopearl Tres was checking the other doors to see if there was anyone else they had missed. It checked until it reached Pearl, and waited by her side.

Pearl set her hand onto the steel door, feeling for any vibration that could be felt from the inside. She could feel a rhythm. There was someone pacing around in there.

The white Gem readied her spear, locking it into blast mode, before kicking the door open with her refined strength and pointing the end of her spear at the pirates. In the room, she could see the workers for this oil rig tied up and sitting in an orderly manner across the walls. The five pirates who hijacked the place were surprised by the suddenness of her attack.

With the element of surprise and her heightened reaction speed, she fired at three of them in a second, blowing them back. The rest of them, which accounted for two, were only able to raise their guns in the fraction of a second, but were too late as they didn't count for the Holopearl that was by Pearl's side.

The rest of the moment was filled with short gasps, and people grunting in pain. Pearl made sure that the five pirates that held the hostages were held in place. She strapped the five burned pirates into a bundle, tying a rope around them to secure them. The hostages were freed by Holopearl Tres, who robotically sliced their handcuffs. They thanked her, and the Gem realized they were also Revolution employees, wearing the symbol as their badge.

 _This only makes sixteen. There are two left._ Pearl thought, but that was put in the back of her head. What she was interested in was that the Revolution needed an oil rig. For what reason? It didn't add up. Pearl suddenly felt distrust in the organization, they weren't telling her something. _They weren't storing oil. Oil isn't something the Revolution values. Only the economy does. So, they were keeping something elsd secret here..._

Pearl stared at the safe door in the corner of the room that was locked and labelled "Amber Drill Excavation".

 _Amber..._ She mused. _What could they have been hiding?_

* * *

Holopearl Uno was doing her job making sure the ten people that were unconscious didn't wake up. She only counted nine, but of course, the tenth one dropped into the ocean. Unbeknownst to her, Decker had climbed a ladder and hopped over the railings, sneaking up on her.

Holopearl Uno was piling the unconscious pirates on the helicopter pad, when suddenly, someone made the stupid decision of attacking her. Decker clasped his hands together and did a haymaker that knocked the hologram's balance off. But it didn't knock her down. So, Holopearl Uno was still standing, and faced off against Decker.

"You know, in hindsight, sounding the alarm would've been a much better plan." Decker remarked tiredly, putting on a fighting stance.

Holopearl Uno didn't retort, and instead prepared itself to fight the battle-ready human.

Decker gave a battle cry and charged, swinging his fist in a way that would trick the enemy to dodge and get hit by the other fist. But Uno dodged both attacks with style and a slight calmness that made Decker awe at the display. It was like she had done it a million times and perfected the art of casual dodging. Or it was like like she knew what he was going to do next.

He gave an experimental wide swing to the head, which she ducked under, and gave a kick, which she spun to the side like a ballet.

"What the hell. Give me a break." he requested, feeling outclassed and jealous that his opponent wasn't even trying. Decker did a quick jab to her midsection, and followed up with a heavy punch. The Holopearl took the jab to the stomach like it was nothing, and grabbed the incoming fist like she predicted. "Awww _man_."

Decker felt himself get thrown over, his arm dislocated, and the rest of his body went numb with pain. He finally blacked out.

Holopearl Uno went back to putting the pirates in one location, and piled Decker over with them.

* * *

Holopearl Dos checked every room on the upper floor, which was essentially the platform. She looked around and found oil barrels that weren't filled with oil, and the toilet was mysteriously locked. She waited, leaning against the wall, as the pirate went out of the toilet with a sigh. He didn't notice the holographic woman standing lean and relaxed behind him.

Suddenly, he pulled a pistol out of his pack and aimed it at Dos. The Holopearl mocked him by staring down at her nonexistent fingernails, before looking back at him, seemingly unconcerned with his arrival. She then went back to staring at her nails, looking at them from different angles and forms.

The pirate growled, holding the gun up with his two closed hands. His finger was on the trigger, ready to fire. When he applied a lick of pressure onto it, he was instantly disarmed with a swift jab to the wrist and the pistol was harshly snatched out of his hands. Dos tore the protective covering of the gun into pieces and tossed them to the floor. She crossed her arms, head leaning back. The pirate glared, teeth grinding.

 _"Surrender."_ Dos instructed.

The pirate seemed to have a retort. "I will not be bested by you—"

Holopearl Dos struck him in the nose, spilling blood. The man wiped it off, smudging the gloves he had.

"So that's how you want to go?" he asked.

Dos blinked wearily at this.

He swung a punch at her, which she blocked with her forearm, and retaliated with a steep kick to his shin. The pirate yelped, but was shunned by her placing a hand over his mouth, and then did a takedown that easily knocked him out.

 _"Foolish."_ Dos remarked, dragging the pirate by the collar.

* * *

Pearl counted seventeen. There was one left.

She jumped onto the tallest facility, while her Holopearls sitting around the pile of pirates with the workers not knowing what to do. Pearl gazed down at the platform that was lit with bright light, and then noticed how dark the roofs of the facilities were, in contrast to down there. She then focused, looking around, before spinning on her heels to a complete one-eighty to meet the last one.

"I'm guessing you're the leader." Pearl informed.

The pirate just stood there, frozen. He twitched, growling. Pearl noticed the animalistic behaviors, and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned for the human's health.

" _Aa_ am _mb_ err _rr_..." he groaned.

Suddenly, it leaped at her inhumanely, and Pearl smacked him away, which led to him falling to the platform. Pearl jumped after, seeing the pirate's spit drooled excessively from his mouth. The man growled, shaking his head over and over, his actions were becoming beastly. She raised a brow at this, when suddenly, the backup team of the Revolution decided to intervene.

 _"KNIGHT! MOVE AWAY FROM THE PIRATE!"_ the leader of the group shouted from the intercom, basically restricting Pearl of access to what she just witnessed. Whatever was happening, they didn't want her to know. They parachuted onto the platform, surrounding the roaring man.

"What's happening?" she demanded, but one of the agents pushed her away.

 _"I'm sorry, Knight. This is confidential."_

* * *

Later that day...

Pearl was walking the down the corridor to meet up with the commander of the Revolution, Jake Samson. The Holopearls have returned to her as she had no use for them, and wanted to speak with the commander with what had happened. If she had to write a report on this, she had to know the secret they were trying to keep from her, and what happened to that man. She strolled through the doors of his office.

"Commander Samson." Pearl greeted, standing in front of his desk.

The human nodded. "Knight."

"I want to know what you're trying to hide from me. What happened out there?" Pearl inquired sternly, interested in the topic. "I cannot hand in a report without knowing what's going on."

"Knight, the Revolution keeps secrets to help the world live in peace." Jake replied.

"But to us? You can't lie to me that what happened then was normal human behavior." Pearl retorted. "And that amber excavation site? You're not holding an oil rig there to just obtain oil."

"I can't lie to you." Jake sighed, finally looking up at her eyes. "But I _can_ explain _some_ things.

"We found a corrupting entity rotting in the bottom of the ocean, making fish go insane and mutating them into something they're _not_. Further tests conclude that they were mutated with their ancestors' DNA." Jake closed his eyes, breathing deeply. "That entity that's frozen in a block of amber down there? That's not natural. It's got large portions of amber surrounding it. _And_ , it has dinosaur DNA written all over."

"You want to get more out of the source of dinosaurs?" Pearl guessed.

"No. We just want to know how us humans are going to evolve." Jake replied with a heavy heart. "Nobody knows how we'll look like in a thousand years. Except for you Gems. But with what's deep inside that holy grail, is the answer to a _lot_ of unanswered questions."

Pearl had a distant look in her eyes. She felt comfortable that he confessed, but she still felt untrusted. "So that oil rig is to take what's in the amber?"

"Yes." Commander Samson replied. Knowing that was all the information he could share with her, he quickly ended their conversation. "Dismissed."

Pearl nodded, and walked out of the room. As she left, she was face to face with another agent that was gonna meetup with Jake Samson. He had long brown hair that reached his waist, and had a mask and a visor to cover up a portion of his face. He was dressed in black, and was padded with protective layering. From what Pearl knew, he was known as "Wild Card" for his inconsistent skills and qualities. He was almost fit for any scenario, and was the Revolution's best soldier.

Pearl stared at him as he walked past her, and she felt a little pang of guilt bubble up in her heart. She cringed as he kept walking away, ignoring her.

"I'm sorry." she told him.

He stopped for a moment.

"That doesn't change anything." he replied. "My son's still gone."

Pearl frowned at him, before they both walked away, going their separate ways.

* * *

Pearl came back home that night, a bit stressed out. She walked a few steps, before noting the air around. It was a bit warm. She turned around and saw Amethyst about to enter her room.

"Oh, Amethyst. Hello." Pearl greeted awkwardly.

Amethyst stared at her, then down to her legs. "Hi." the purple Gem responded.

Pearl turned around, conflicted by the events of that day, and found a white letter on the doorstep. She picked it up and turned her head to the other Gem. "Have you seen this before?"

"No," Amethyst replied.

 _Amethyst, I have something to tell you... It's about what I've been doing every night. I'm working with a Revolution. And I've just discovered a threat to humanity._ Pearl thought, but never said aloud.

She had kept this secret for _years_. What if she didn't approve of what she was doing? They would at least feel betrayed, knowing she had been doing behind their backs for a long time. Maybe one of them knew, but she wasn't talking. And this new information about this amber thing that corrupted a human, could she even tell her without mentioning her crusades? How could she inform them of the dangers in the ocean, and its powers of corruption?

Pearl clutched the paper to her chest, feeling her heart drop.

"Would you... like to read it with me?" she asked.

Amethyst looked like she was thinking.

"Yeah. Why not?" she shrugged nonchalantly.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's what's Pearl been doing! Yaaay! This was quick. Done only in a day after last chapter's release. And also, we reached 77 favorites, 83 followers and 42 reviews! It's a weird milestone, for sure.**

 **This was going to be a boring chapter with nothing new to promote the plot except for Pearl's character and arc, but then I decided at the last second, what if I tease the villain of this saga right now? Then, I was like _hell yeah_ , and made her the most powerfully-frightening enemy I've ever thought of. I don't think anyone else has this idea for a power yet! This is _exciting_.**

 **So, meet the Gem that started it all. The corruptions? They aren't natural, and I've got a reason of how they're happening! (Only for this AU. If you want, you could do it in yours as well.)**

 **Breaking News: This title was created when I searched for the names of Pearls on google. If I remember correctly, wikipedia had a history of them with a nickname that is similar to Teardrops from the Moon.**

 **Next chapter's title: "Lazuli in Training"**


	8. Chapter 7: Lazuli in Training

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 7: _Lazuli in Training_**

* * *

It was a normal day in school for Steven and Connie. They were learning in class, doing their work tidily and had nothing interesting going on... until Peridot jumped onto one of the desks in the middle of the classroom, with metal pots and pans in her hands, which she would use to loudly bashed them together. There was a story behind the retrieval of the pots and pans, which was rather uneventful. All that happened was that Peridot snuck through the school kitchen and found the silver utensils.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The ear-piercing screech took everyone's focus, as they glared at the unusually green student.

"I need everyone's attention!" Peridot exclaimed.

"Yeah! You have it!" a classmate shouted.

"Thank you. I need a tutor for the music class. Frankly, even with my intellect, I cannot pass the musical test with my... _fingers_." she said disgustedly, wiggling her small, stubby touch stumps. "I'm not used to playing the _recorder_." she showed the white, narrow wind instrument to the class, where only half of the students were listening.

Steven almost raised his hand, when Connie slowly pulled it down for him so he didn't have to go through such an ordeal. Nobody responded, not wanting to get near the green child. Everyone resumed to their duties, drawing on paper, writing an essay, doing their homework, reading books... and most importantly, ignoring "Perry Dott".

Peridot huffed, planting her fists on her hips. "Okay, then. New plan..." she got off the desk and made a dash for Steven. The demigem stayed still as she wrapped her arm around him, and proceeded to carry him out of the classroom. Connie just watched in disbelief, before running after her.

"Perry! What are you _doing_?!" Connie demanded, exaggerating the event since this was one of the only times she got involved with something. She didn't have an exciting life.

"I need someone to help me with my test. What's wrong?" Peridot replied. She almost forgot about her Perry Dott persona and was about to scold her for calling her "Perry" instead of Peridot. She caught herself just in time, and made a small sigh of relief afterwards.

"You can't just _take_ someone away!" Connie informed. "What kind of estranged planet did you originate from that makes you do these things?" she asked sarcastically, getting an eye twitch from the green student.

"Wh... What? Who told you?" Peridot's eyes flashed with anger, ready to confront whoever revealed her identity.

"Who told me _what_?" Connie replied obliviously.

"Oh." Perry said, realizing that she didn't mean it literally. "I thought this was the norm."

"You don't carry someone around against their free will! That's kidnapping." the human girl stated. "It's _not_ normal."

"Yeah, Perry! It's not normal." Steven finally spoke, after being weirded out by being easily carried by someone who was as short as him. Lapis was the only one he knew that carried him, and this new kid was doing the same thing Lapis did, and it was uncomfortable. "And can you let me down? I'm scared of falling unexpectedly."

Peridot set Steven down, dusting human germs off of herself.

"Steven, I need your help." Perry requested formally, putting her hands behind her back. "I need your help in the music test. Will you oblige?"

Steven stared at her incredulously, wondering why Perry was so alien to the world. "Okay. I'll help." he answered nervously.

"Thank you, Steven. I shall reward you with this piece of paper!" Peridot pulled out a small pink piece of paper and smacked it onto the demigem's head.

The boy took it off and read the contents. "A detention slip?" he said. "Perry, you can't leave school early today if you have a detention slip."

Peridot took the paper and tore it in half, stunning the two kids in front of her.

"There. Problem solved." Perry replied.

"How could you do that?" Connie demanded, an anger burning up inside her. "That's against the school rules!"

Peridot looked around, narrowing her eyes. "There are rules?" she asked. "This filth junk is nothing _but_ chaos. How are there even rules?"

"People rebel against society." Steven ironically stated.

Peridot's eyes widened. _They're learning... Rose must be somewhere to teach them how to rebel._ She theorized inwardly. She was as stiff as a statue, and the two kids waited for Perry Dott to respond.

"Hey, Perry." Steven snapped his fingers in front of her. "You aren't moving."

"Let's go, Steven." Connie informed, walking back to the classroom. "You guys can play the recorder later."

"Alright..." the boy replied, following shortly afterwards.

* * *

Later after school...

Steven and Connie heard the bell ring, and went out of class. They packed up their stuff, went out to the lockers, then headed for Steven's home. Connie didn't want to go to her place because her parents were strict about having friends, so she kept this friendship a secret from them and told them she was doing after-school work.

They made their way toward the exit, when suddenly, Peridot popped in between them and tried to act as normal as possible. She laid her arms around their necks, making them feel uncomfortable with the physical contact. Connie shuddered, while Steven was upset about it. Peridot noticed and raised a brow.

"Isn't this what friends do?" the green kid asked.

" _We_ are not friends." Connie stated, pointing towards her and Peridot.

"What are you talking about?" Peridot inquired, surprised that they didn't consider her as an ally. But they didn't attack her, so they were neutral. But Steven and Connie helped her way too much to be neutral. "We conversed. You people helped me. That's being friends, right?"

"We're more like acquaintances." Steven informed quietly, not wanting to hurt Perry's feelings.

Peridot huffed at his response. "Steven, you're my _friend_ , right?"

"He just said you're his acq—" The human girl was interrupted by a squeal of the green Gem.

" _Shush_!" Peridot quieted Connie, putting a finger on her mouth. She intended for a finger, but she clasped with her whole hand because she wasn't used to her fingers in real applications. "I need Steven's _true_ opinion. He decides himself."

Steven shrunk at this, forming a frown. "You're my..." He lowered his voice, murmuring, "...friend."

Connie couldn't help but show her sadness. Steven noticed, and found out what he did was wrong.

"Huh, what's _that_?" Peridot asked teasingly. "I couldn't hear."

 _She's asking me again. A second chance!_ With his mind made up, he boldly claimed, "You're my acquaintance!"

"BOOM! Yes!" Connie punched the air with renewed glee. She was his best friend, and he was all to her. No competition. "You're just his _acquaintance_." she bragged in front of Perry's face.

"Yeah. I heard it the first time." Peridot replied, eyebrows knitting in suspicion. Was there something going on with the girl? She was overprotective of Steven and wanted to be his only friend, even fighting for the statement that she was at the lowest level of all friends. And she showed superiority with her title as friend. Was there a human feeling thing going on?

The trio made it to the building where Steven's home was, and went inside the lobby. Steven led them to the elevators, and Connie pressed the floor, priding herself that she knew where Steven lived. Peridot didn't know what the fuss is all about between the two, but she knew there was something _human_ going on.

They made their way to Steven's apartment, and settled on the couch that was in the middle of the living room. They put their bags on the rugged floor, while Peridot didn't even have a bag.

"Okay, Perry. You wanted to practice your recorder?" Steven asked, pulling the wind instrument out his from a case.

"Yes." Peridot nodded, retracting her fingers repeatedly. "I need to familiarize myself with the finger mess."

"Where's your recorder?" the demigem asked.

"I didn't bring it." Perry answered innocently.

"Ughh," Connie groaned. " _Seriously_ , Perry. Here, I'll hand you my recorder." The human girl reached out for her bag, and took her recorder out for Peridot.

The green Gem took it in her hands, fingers twitching in nervousness at the loss of her limb enhancers. She was much better with them. Peridot held her recorder with both hands. "So... like this?"

"You're doing it wrong." Steven said. "See, the thing is, you have to—" He was cut off by an ocean Gem.

"Steven!" Lapis Lazuli yelled, rushing into the apartment. "I've got terrible news!" The Gem hybrid and the human froze, listening closely to the blue Gem. But a certain green girl was just confused by the interruption.

"Who's _this_?" Peridot asked in a snotty way, pointing at the tall, blue-skinned woman.

"Oh, she's my, um..." Steven looked at Connie, and she mouthed "mother". "...mom."

"Hm. The maternal figure." Perry said. "Why's she blue?"

"Why're you green?" Connie retorted.

"Good point." Peridot acknowledged.

"Steven... I didn't know you had friends coming over." Lapis said, ruffling through her blue hair, making it a bit messy. She shook her head, waving it off. "Never mind that. I need to help you prepare. Connie, uh..." The blue Gem stared at the green Gem, both making eye contact. "...green... kid?"

"Rare skin disease." Peridot answered, before taking her hand out. "My name is Perry Dott."

"Alright. You two, Steven and I are gonna go out. We're not gonna come back till sundown, so it'll be useless if you stayed here." Lapis informed. "I suggest you go back home."

"Hmph," Peridot gave Connie her recorder and took out another pink slip, writing with a pen that was tucked in her hair, and gave it to Steven. "Here is where I live. I still need your help with the music test."

Steven looked at it, and got an address and a map. He could admit that Perry was a good artist. Peridot opened the door to leave the house, and Connie was left to go. She whispered, "If you're ever going to her house, can I accompany?"

"Sure." Steven shrugged.

"Thanks." Connie replied, going through the door and leaving.

With the two of them gone, Steven turned to Lapis. He had a plethora of questions to ask, and seeing Lapis distraught was making him frightened. If the information was able to make Lapis unhappy, then it's something _really_ important. "What's wrong? What's the terrible news? What should I prepare?" he asked.

"Steven." Lapis placed a hand on the demigem's shoulder. "It's time to _really_ train your Gem powers."

The boy's eyes had white stars in them. "Awesome."

"No, it's _not_ awesome." Lapis replied solemnly. "Last time, we could barely get your shield out. We need to hurry and get you into shape _quick_."

"Why?" Steven asked.

The blue Gem got on one knee, staring Steven at eye-level and put her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them comfortingly. "There is... a new threat. And it's not with the Crystal Gems. I don't know what it's endgame is, but it's not good. Last I remember, it's under the ocean. In a government territory. I can't help them."

"Why not?" he asked.

"I'm wanted from them." she replied, "They think I'm dangerous. And I think one of the Crystal Gems work for them."

"What? Now the _government_?" Steven whined. "Things are getting corrupted everywhere."

Lapis froze when he said the word.

"Anyway, this new threat. Can't you defeat it while it's under the ocean?" Steven inquired.

"The government will think something's fishy going on if I intervene." Lapis responded. "It's better this way."

Steven grinned. "You said _fishy_."

"Yes, I know." Lapis smiled. But the emotion was short-lived. "We have to get ready. Now."

* * *

Mountains near the sea...

"I love flying!"

Lapis felt the air whizz past her face as if she was falling. But she really was falling, with _style_. She had Steven in her arms, who clung onto Lapis tight, not wanting to drop from a thousand feet in the air.

"Flying is dangerous." Lapis informed.

"But the feeling of air rushing through your body is so... _awesome_. It's worth it." he remarked, "I wish _I_ could fly."

Lapis bit her lip, remembering that Rose Quartz had never shown any ability of flight. She did show abilities that helped her in the war. One of them was to build a plant army to fight off against Homeworld. And if Lapis was correct, Rose Quartz had the ability of charm speak; the charm of her voice could influence other people to her doing. She swore Steven had the same ability.

The two landed on a cliff next to the ocean. Lapis let go of Steven, who tumbled on the ground, his balance temprarily lost on him. The demigem managed to pull himself together and stand properly. "Flying made me a bit tipsy."

"Which is why I don't normally fly." Lapis replied.

"But you're a Gem. You never get tipsy." Steven stated.

"You don't know that." the ocean Gem retorted.

"So... what will the master teach the student first?" the demigem asked.

"We need to work on your shield." she informed, crossing her arms. "Defense is an important attribute in battle. It keeps you living longer."

"Okay... but... I don't know how to use my shield." Steven said, shuffling on the grass.

"Well, flush your emotions out." Lapis nonchalantly replied. She waved her hand and her water wings stretched out into a compilation of frozen shards. She clenched her fist, and steam started to seep out of her ice wings as it melted and vaporized. "I felt the anger inside me: the Crystal Gems trapping me in that mirror for centuries. And I push it out and use it as a tool. I direct it."

Lapis Lazuli pointed her finger at the air next to Steven, and the same thing happened ten years ago. Water droplets formed out of thin air, the concentration of all the moisture into one small space.

She lowered her hand, and the floating droplets turned into mist. "You try it."

Steven concentrated, but his frustration led to nowhere. Minutes passed, and nothing happened. All he did was flex, strain and sweat from the heat.

"It's no use." he sighed finally.

"That's okay."

Steven looked up at her incredulously. "What? Why?"

"To be honest, Steven... I didn't think my way would work. We're different. Different Gems have different ways of using their Gem powers. Negative emotions like rage and sadness may not be your thing." Lapis stated.

 _Sadness?_ Steven mused.

"So, just in case..." Lapis rotated her fingers in a rhythmic way. The moisture in the air came together and formed a giant water disk. It was curved like a small shield, for the agile and the proficient. Her fingers paused, and so did the water molecules in the shield, freezing over and turning into a temporary shield. "...this will help with your training. You'll be at least good at it once you figure your Gem shield out."

"Woah." Steven took the ice shield, its touch was cool and smooth. It wasn't really that cold, but enough to make chills go up your arm. "It's perfect."

"You know how to defend yourself with a shield, right?" Lapis asked.

"Yep." Steven swayed and hid behind the blue shield. "Put it in front. _Shielded_."

"Yes, that's... a good way of doing it. But that's if you don't want to engage in combat." Lapis told him. "What I want to teach you is to help you attack the opponent first."

"You can attack with the shield? Um, I mean, yeah. Bashing." Steven took a step forward and slashed at the air.

"What about throwing?" Lapis suggested, a smile forming on her face.

"But I lose the shield." Steven stated worriedly.

"This is Gem shield practice. I can make another one if we lose this." Lapis informed, forming another ice shield out the side of her arm. "Now, watch carefully."

Lapis turned, breathed the cool air, and directed herself at the end of the cliff. She stared out at the sky, aiming at her invisible opponent, and started running to gain momentum. She pulled back her arm, before throwing the shield like a bowling ball, spinning as it went in a direction. The circle shield raced through the air, as Lapis slid on her feet, stopping herself from falling from the edge of the cliff. The disk vanished in the air, turning back into moisture.

"Ya see that?" Lapis asked.

"I was too focused on your grace." Steven replied, starry-eyed.

The blue Gem chuckled, scratching the back of her hair. She hid her eyes under her bangs, thinking darkly about her time in the mirror. She was in a reflection, and had the ability of perfect mimicry. Sometimes, she could remember voices and speak them without sounding a tone off. So, when she remembered the time about the Gem war, she saw how Rose threw her shield, and knew every exact movement she did to accomplish such feat.

She was able to perceive, mimic and adapt. That was what she had picked up from being cooped up in a mirror. Replaying memories, enhancing her own physicality to match perfectly with everything she knew. She had a lot of time in there, and she didn't remember most of it anymore. All of it was replaced with memories of taking care of Steven.

"I remembered it from your mother. That must be why..." Lapis said.

"My mom? She was able to do that?" Steven questioned.

"Yes. She's an expert." Lapis painfully admitted. "I learned it from watching her."

"Was she nice?"

Lapis didn't know how to answer that. There was a whole thing about humans and Gems, and her theorized ability of charm speak. There was no telling if Rose Quartz was being nice or not.

"It's complicated."

"Does that mean she's not nice?" he asked.

"No. I don't know enough to decide that. Many people view her as "nice" though." Lapis answered, rummaging a hand through her hair for the third time that day. "But for me, it's kind of hard with what I know."

Steven sat on the grass. "Why is that?"

Lapis followed, sitting with her legs crossed. "I've been suspecting foul play in her words. It's like she had an enchantment in her voice." She shuddered, "I only realized it only a while back when I wondered how she was able to get Gems on her side. She was able to convince them, but it wasn't through her speech, it was through her voice. It was... what humans call charismatic."

"So, she has a great and commanding voice, fit for a leader." Steven placed a finger on his chin. "I wonder if it works with singing. That would be amazing."

"We're getting off the topic here." Lapis stood up from the ground, and helped Steven up. She gave him a pat on the shoulder. "See if you can toss the shield like a..." The ocean Gem tried to think of a word for it. "...flying pizza."

"Okay... I can do this." Steven reassured himself, warming up.

The demigem ran at full speed, arm ready, and threw it like a discus. The shield didn't go where he wanted, it went all the way to the left, and plummeted down into the ocean. Steven frowned at this, unable to get how he failed. He did everything that Lapis did. Was he not a Gem? He _should_ be able to do this with relative ease.

"It's a good try." Lapis remarked. "But your form was kind of off. And it didn't seem like you know where you're throwing."

"I failed." Steven stared at the ground.

"Hey, chin up." Lapis encouraged, walking over to him and lifting his face by the palm of her hands to look at her. "Failure is what makes success much more better. You can't succeed with one try. There will always be failures."

"But what if I fail in fighting someone? Do I _die_?" Steven shuddered, nuzzling closer to the blue Gem. "If that's the real thing, then... I'm useless! _Lapis_... maybe the shield is not for me."

Lapis hugged him. "But... that's your _destiny_. It's in your Gem. Maybe the shield I made wasn't your type."

"That can't be possible. You're _perfect_." Steven sniffed.

"I'm not alway—" she paused, eyes widening. "Steven, duck!"

The older Gem pushed Steven to the ground, dodging a giant water hand. Steven looked up and saw a giant water humanoid with sea animals swimming inside it, rising from the cliffs. Only the top part of it was visible, consisting of the arms, chest and head.

"But—wh-what?" Steven stammered, looking up at Lapis for her wisdom.

"It's the threat I was talking about. The one under the government facility." Lapis depressingly stated. "It's here..."

"You can beat it right?" Steven asked. "It's _water_!"

Lapis gritted her teeth, clutching at her head. "The entity has far more control over it!" She brought out her water wings, and flew at the water giant. She created an ice gauntlet, arching her fist back, before smashing it into the giant's face. Her fist splattered it clean, water splashing everywhere, before it reformed, even scarier than before, and smacked Lapis into the ground before she could think. The Gem rebounded off the cliff, and fell off into the sea, falling a two hundred meter drop.

"LAPIS!" Steven cried, running over to the edge, only in time to catch the tiny splash that emerged from the ocean waves. "Noo... _NO_!" He clenched his fists. "I'm sorry, Lapis... I-I can't do it." He looked up and saw the water giant's hand hovering over him. "I'm a failure..." Tears streamed down his face, as he doubled over and burried his head into hands. "Just take me away."

The giant took the demigem and carried him by the palm of its hand. The water giant was about to crush Steven by clasping his hands together, when suddenly, a pink bubble rose out of his Gem, protecting him from being shattered. Steven heard the small silence and the filtered sound from everywhere, and looked up. Everything had turned pink. He looked down curiously, and found his Gem being activated.

 _You are not a failure, Steven._ A reassuring voice told him. It had a charm to it that gave him devotion, and it calmed his nerves. _I've been watching, and I'm sorry I kept you from using all of your powers. I did it only to make you feel normal, but I guess... normal isn't something you should be._

"Are you in my head?" Steven asked, and his voice echoed through the bubble. The voice in his head never echoed.

 _You are the bridge between humans and Gems. You are the best of both worlds. You have to take care of them, Steven. You're the hybrid, the one and only. You are the first, and you are yourself. There has never been anything like you in the universe. I should let go of my obsession with keeping you as a human. You aren't meant to be normal, and I'm sorry for suppressing your destiny._

Steven raised a brow. "Mom?"

And just like that, the voice disappeared like the wind.

The bubble opened, and Steven stood back up, looking around. The water giant snarled angrily at him, and he immediately knew what to do. His body reacted to it as if he had done this a million times before, but he's never done it. Steven knew and was clueless at the same time with what's going on. His memories showed him fighting, but he was fighting a white void. _Nothing_.

A shield formed out of his arm, like a clock ticking down, and Steven put it in front of his body. His posture straightened, defining a leader's pose. The demigem stood bravely, not knowing what to do but knowing _exactly_ what to do, as the giant roared, turning into some kind of deformed monster.

Steven ran straight at it, shield by his side, as he readied... aimed... and _fired_.

The pink shield flew out of his arm like a bullet, rocketing at the giant. It hit it in the center of the chest, all the momentum and energy poured into it exploded the body into bits and pieces of water and fishes. The water giant crumbled back into the ocean, as Steven realized... that wasn't the threat Lapis talked about. The sun was about to set, the sky reddening, as he watched fish rain from the sky. He knew... Lapis had lied to him.

Steven felt a presence behind him, and he spun and hugged the lean, blue Gem by the waist. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, never wanting to let go. His heart raced, the adrenaline not leaving.

"I thought I lost you." he whimpered.

"You knew." Lapis replied, rubbing his hair.

"It was _terrible_."

"And I'm sorry."

The two stayed like that for the moment, when Lapis stared down at Steven, seeing a pink glow emanating from him. She held him firmly, watching the glow become vibrant.

* * *

 **A/N: Well then, this took longer than I thought. It was much more interesting than I first planned it. It was, just like how I described the last chapter, going to be a boring old training montage. I tried, I _really_ did, and it was hard to stretch something like that when I don't even know how to do shield training.**

 **Training is practice. Practice is repetition. Repitition is boring in writing.**

 **It turned out so much better than how I thought it would. Now, I, uh, have to move that Lapis and Steven flashback of healing her Gem somewhere else. And Peridot and Connie's recorder practice... Oh wait, I have the _perfect_ placement for those two.**

 **The Amber arc is on its way. Lots of stuff going on everywhere. Pearl, Lapis, Steven and the Revolution know. Amethyst, Garnet and everyone else don't know. Peridot probably knows... Wait, I actually have no confirmation of that. Huh. I didn't think that through.**

 **Oh yeah, I've theorized that Rose Quartz and Steven both have the power of charm speak. You know, like the Percy Jackson books? Piper McLean? Aphrodite? Yeah, there's a certain power of persuasion in their voices that makes everyone get really motivated and somehow clingy to it. So, I thought, they had some kind of ability that lets them influence people to do their bidding. Also helps with Steven being able to make friends with the enemy, since his voice just charms them.**

 **I went onto the SU wikia to check on their powers. Turns out I forgot they had the ability to give life to plants, and I realized that Rose probably used them in the war. I actually forgot the episode. Man, it's creepy. Giving life to plants? _Actual_ life? Those Watermelon Stevens are sentient and you know it.**

 **Breaking News: The title is what it is. Steven Lazuli in Training.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "The Square Root of Garnet"**


	9. Chapter 8: The Square Root of Garnet

**A/N: WE PASSED A HUNDRED FOLLOWERS! WOOO!**

 **(Throws confetti around)**

 **THANK YOU FOR READING, NOW I'll have to... pick this all up.**

 **(Proceeds to clean the confetti)**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 8: _The Square Root of Garnet_**

* * *

 _'Dear Crystal Gems,'_

 _'If you want to find your precious Steven, you might be able to find him in Antarctica.'_

 _'From,'_

 _'Lapis Lazuli'_

* * *

Pearl and Amethyst had read the letter over and over, horrified by the inscriptions written on it. They had their mouths agape, and were about to go and kill Lapis for what she had done. Then, they stopped themselves, and found a more _efficient_ way of doing things.

The pair of Gems went on a journey to the abandoned barn. It was in the middle of a peaceful landscape. The story of how they owned the land was funny. They saved the late William Dewey back in the day, and he gave them land for their bravery. It was... eventful. Before that, Amethyst and Pearl were checking on the Onyx Gem while Rose and Garnet fused to save the former mayor.

The white Gem and purple Gem both walked onto the firt trail that led to the red barn, which was newly painted. The grass around it was fertile, had a few scorch marks, but it was okay. There was a sign on the front that wrote "Cows for sale". Amethyst giggled at the thought, but Pearl shook her head disapprovingly, and went into the barnyard. The two were at the front entrance, and knocked on the door.

After a few silent minutes, a red face peeked out the door, before slamming shut, causing Pearl and Amethyst to flinch back.

"LEAVE ME _ALONE_!" the red Gem shouted, her voice echoing through the barn.

"Ruby!" Amethyst cried, trying to calm her. She wanted the team to be back again, but with everyone being a wreck, Amethyst thought she needed to rise up and be the leader. For Rose Quartz' sake, and for Steven's. "We... We need your help! It's about _Steven_!"

"Is Sapphire with you?" Ruby asked. The door didn't even move an inch.

"No. She's not." Pearl answered.

Ruby opened the door, and the two Gems could see her mess. She was covered in oil, and the insides of the barn were neat and tidy, showing no signs of any burns, except for the recent ones, which were under her feet. Amethyst felt bad for interrupting her peace. It seemed to rile her up. Pearl stared at the tractor in the middle of the barn, which was being disassembled. There was a burn mark under it. They might've called her at the wrong time.

"You found Steven?" Ruby asked, eyes glimmering with hope.

"Not _exactly_." Amethyst hesitated, not wanting to bother her. But they deeply needed her help. It was Antarctica for goodness sake, Ruby could melt the whole thing with one tantrum. "Lapis told us where to find him."

She looked up at Pearl, who gave the white letter to the hot-headed Gem. Ruby took it, hands trembling, and read the contents. In the next few seconds, there was a progressive rage building inside her, and her fingers began to burn the paper. Pearl snatched it away, and the red Gem scattered her fingers through her block of hair.

"RRRGHHH!" she snarled, her feet smoking. "How _COULD_ SHE?!"

"I know how you feel, Ruby..." Pearl responded, trying to soothe her. It wasn't working.

"YOU DON'T—" Ruby reluctantly continued, instead pointing her anger through another sentence. "—LAPIS, GRR... I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" she shouted, fists clenching. The atmosphere warmed up, heat generating from her. "I SWEAR TO GEMOLOGY! I'LL _DESTROY_ HER, BREAK HER DOWN INTO DUST, BUBBLE HER FOR ETERNITY! I'M GOING TO—"

" _RUBY_!" Amethyst yelled in her most commanding voice. She felt voice crack, which she thought wasn't possible, and wondered how Rose was ever able to do this leader schtick. Even Garnet, their most powerful asset, separated in their first year without Rose. How was Amethyst going to go through with this? Pearl declined that because... well... she was a Pearl.

The red Gem stopped, her fingers uncurling. Smoke dissipated from the tips of her fingers, and the ground beneath her feet chilled.

"I'm sorry." Ruby said bitterly, "I can't believe Lapis would _do_ that. It's so..."

"Inhumane." Pearl suggested.

"Yes! _That_." Ruby snapped her fingers at her. "I just... How can Lapis do such a thing?"

Amethyst shuffled uncomfortably. She thought back to yesterday when she met that Steven Leslie kid. She hoped he had a great life compared to the Steven they knew. Now the kid was stuck in a block of ice, and she just couldn't help but imagine that Leslie boy trapped in ice. She recently realized she didn't know how to picture Steven as a ten year-old, since the last time she saw him was a baby. So, subconsciously, she used Steven Leslie as a mental picture of Rose's son.

"Steven's _got_ to be okay." Pearl said reassuringly, trying to give everyone a positive thought. "I mean, being frozen in a block of ice under Antarctica? I heard of humans surviving that."

"Any of them humans you mention are children?" Amethyst asked, trying to get hope from the wisest Gem on the planet.

"Uh..." Pearl's eyes nervously darted to the corners. "...no."

"We have to go to Antarctica. Now." Ruby informed impatiently. "There's no way I'm going to miss this. I will thaw Steven out myself if I have to!"

"That was the plan." Amethyst retorted.

"What about Sapphire?" Pearl inquired.

"What _about_ her? She'll just stump our progress." Ruby stated. "Come on. Let's go."

Pearl looked to Amethyst, hoping she could talk some sense to Ruby. But the purple Gem shrugged, "She's got a point. Sapphire will just make the ice frozen longer."

Pearl glared, and Amethyst shrunk from the look. Never before she had ever though the white Gem looked _scary_. Amethyst thought she was the leader right now, but it seemed these two had other plans. Was Ruby always this impatient and commanding? Was Pearl always so frightening and influential?

"Oh, uh, Ruby, why don't you talk to her?" Amethyst asked nervously, a drop of sweat rolling down her cheek. "Just a little chat. You know, a meetup after having not seen each other for a decade. Hey, maybe her future vision could help—"

"BAH! Future vision. Who needs it?" Ruby rolled her eyes, starting a rant. "Last I checked, Steven's gone because of what w- _she_ did with future vision. It's useless. It just tells you all the _possible_ futures. It skims down to... I don't know, a thousand _other_ possible futures where we say something a second _later_ or a second _earlier_. Or, it could've shown us that Steven was gonna get kidnapped. But no, it DIDN'T! And we've gone on for TEN YEARS, without making ANY PROGRESS of getting back ROSE'S KID!"

"But maybe Sapphire could find something useful in her future vision this time." Pearl encouraged.

"No, she won't." Ruby stated confidently, walking through them and heading over to the temple.

Pearl and Amethyst glanced at each other, with the purple Gem giving a weak smile.

"Why won't she?" Pearl asked.

Because she's too busy fantasizing about the possible future where it's _all_ perfect and we have _Steven_ around!" the red Gem answered, crossing her arms and huffing. "All those other times she told us about the future? Lies. She just told us possible futures that are logical, so she could selfishly huddle in the corner and watch herself teach Steven how future vision works."

"That's what I'd do if I were Sapphire." Amethyst replied.

Ruby snorted. "Come on, let's go get Steven out of Antarctica."

* * *

 _Garnet caught Steven in her arms, after falling down his bedroom._

 _"How do you know where to be at the right time?" Steven asked._

 _"Well, you see, I have some kind of... future vision." Garnet answered._

Sapphire sat in the corner of her room, everything had frozen. There were frost shards everywhere. Icicles were hanging from the ceiling, the floor was as smooth as marble, the walls had a spiderweb design of ice. The bright blue Gem huddled in the corner, watching herself and Ruby teaching Steven about future vision as a fusion.

 _"Future vision? Woah... That's awesome! What am I gonna eat for breakfast?" Steven asked._

 _"Well, seeing how the Big Donut is the closest shop from here. I'm thinking you're gonna have donuts for breakfast." Garnet answered._

 _"Woah. So cool." Steven replied._

 _The two went down to the Big Donut to get their donuts, and they met the store managers._

 _"What am I gonna do if I say hi to—" What Steven said next was a blur to her._

 _"She'd say hi back." Garnet responded._

 _"Hi," Steven greeted, but the name was blurred._

 _"Hi, Steven." the manager replied._

 _"What would happen if I say hello to my best bud over there?" Steven asked. "We go way back."_

 _"I only see two possible futures where he'd say hello back. A thousand of them ending with you getting second-degree burns." Garnet answered._

 _Steven walked over and slapped his buddy, who was making coffee, on the back._ _"Hello—"_

 _Garnet intervened, getting coffee splashed on her instead._

 _"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Steven's buddy asked._

 _"I drink coffee for breakfast." Garnet retorted, smashing her fists against each other._

Sapphire went back to that possible future, and saw every event that led up to that. She sighed, seeing Lapis being in that future. Steven had "rescued" her from the mirror, and she stole the ocean in return.

"It's inevitable." she sighed. "Lapis will always win. She is powerful and also patient. She is like her element. Water."

Sapphire stood up and hovered over to the door. She opened it, and thought about telling the Crystal Gems the useless information she found.

Instead, she was met with three corrupted Gems, all walking around the temple. Sapphire stepped back, wondering how on Earth they had escaped their bubbles. She didn't have time, and stood her ground, forming her Gem weapon: the gauntlet with brass knuckles.

Ice started seeping out from her steps, as she watched the corrupted Gems growl angrily. But it seemed with each passing moment, they were getting less and less aggressive, and more humanoid. They were getting uncorrupted, their animalistic state passing away and returning to their base forms.

There was a bright green one, a red one, and a black one.

Sapphire recognized the Gems from their cut. "Emerald. Spinel. Hematite." she remarked.

The trio of post-corrupted Gems responded to their names, each of them gaining their own sense of reality.

* * *

Back with Amethyst, Ruby and Pearl...

Amethyst and Pearl led Ruby to the temple, about to head over to the warp pad, when they were met with three unfamiliar faces, and all of them seemed to be Gems. On instinct, they got their weapons out. Pearl took her spear, Amethyst took her whip and Ruby took her blunt gauntlet.

"Who are you guys?" Amethyst demanded, thinking it fit since she was the new leader of the Crystal Gems.

The post-corrupted gems looked at each other, when the red one tossed Sapphire's gem at them. Expecting Ruby to catch it, Amethyst and Pearl let it fly. But when she didn't budge, Pearl made a last-second dive to catch the icy Gem.

The green one, Emerald, was lean and had a streamlined design to his body. He was thin, fit and looked more like a runner. He had yellow eyes, and rugged hair. He took the first charge, and blazed through them. Ruby was struck first with his surprising speed, only able to see a blur once she got smacked away. Emerald left a trail of green and white, it was wavy, like it was his natural aura or energy of speed.

"ARGH!" Ruby cried, slamming onto her back. She jumped back up, saw the green blur coming right back at her, and punched the air in front of her. Emerald had ran around her, dodging her strike, and slammed her in the back.

Amethyst was about to intervene, when brown spikes suddenly struck the ground she was about to step on. She looked to the attacker, and found the red one, Spinel, having his arm outstretched. He was thicker than Emerald, having wide forearms and shins, but it was because he had projectile spikes ready to shoot. His head was spiky, all his hair facing upwards or to the side. He, like Emerald, had yellow eyes, but this time it was more noticeable with his red appearance.

"You wanna go?!" Amethyst shouted.

"Amethyst, we need to work together." Pearl said, touching her shoulder. "We need to fuse."

The black one, Hematite, body slammed into Pearl right after she said that. He understood what she meant, and didn't want it to happen. Hematite had a bulky structure, having shorter legs and arms. But he looked like a rocky volcano, having active red lines that pulsated through his entire body. It all opened up to his head, where he had smoke puffs pushing out of his head. He _too_ had yellow eyes, which made it all the more suspicious.

"P!" Amethyst cried, but got struck in the side with Spinel's projectile. The thin, brown spikes stuck to her, and she plucked them out, not giving a crap how much they stung. She focused on the red Gem, and dashed at him. She slashed her whip at him, and he leaped away, but not before getting a welt on his leg. Spinel growled, a bit too beastly for her tastes. "You don't like that, huh?" she deduced. "Well have some MORE!"

Pearl rolled away from an incoming charge from Hematite, who was getting annoyed as it went on. This time, instead of charging at her, he struck his fists into the beach, and created a tremor that shook Pearl off her feet. Hematite twisted his hand, and molten lava started to burst through the beach. It rained volcanic rocks, pelting everyone on the beach, which only amounted to the Gems.

Seeing the environment get destroyed by Hematite, Pearl exclaimed, "Stop that!"

Emerald dashed through the beach, trying to gain as much momentum as possible, and ran at Ruby, hoping to punch her with enough force to create a shock wave. The hothead growled, raising her gauntlet, and pumped her Gem energy to create a combustion of flames. The three things that kept fire going were oxygen, a fuel source and a high temperature. She knew she could do that.

Ruby's gauntlet burned brightly, its color was as scorching orange as the sun. She arched back her fist, preparing to strike, when she saw the green blur. Emerald's eyes widened, unable to slow down.

WHAAM! Ruby's gauntlet connected to his jaw, creating a giant shockwave that ruptured the beach. The energy dispersed formed a crater, sand splashing everywhere. Emerald was knocked away, spinning in the air like a dead body, before planting himself in the sand.

Ruby clutched at her gauntlet, which cracked from the pressure of their attacks. It couldn't handle the amount of force Emerald had accumulated plus the energy Ruby gave to make it burn. It broke down, its resistance shattered. Ruby looked around, and saw glass surrounding her.

"Hey, speedy!" she exclaimed at Emerald. "You want some more of _that_? I can give it to ya."

Emerald picked himself out of the sand, and ran away, leaving a trail of green and white.

"Psh. What a pansy." Ruby muttered.

Amethyst cracked her whip at Spinel, who kept firing his spikes at the purple Gem. Emerald got in between, and caught her whip. He pulled it down, and Amethyst flopped onto the ground with it. Emerald looked at Spinel, and they both nodded, running off to the warp pad.

Hematite dashed at Pearl, who dodged his attack and fired a blast from the tip of her spear. With his rocky defense, he was able to shrug it off like it was nothing. Hematite fumed, smoke pumping through his cracks. Suddenly, Ruby jumped onto his back and started smashing her gauntlet into him.

Hematite tried to wiggle her away, but she held on, punching him behind his head. He caught a glance of Emerald and Spinel warping away on the warp pad, and he decided to bail. Hematite blasted Ruby off his back by letting a flush of lava shoot through his veins, and ran off to the warp pad.

"Come on! Can't take a beating!" she taunted.

Her shout fell on deaf ears, as Hematite charged straight for the warp pad. Amethyst got up, rubbing her dizzy head, when she immediately got trampled by the rocky, black Gem.

Hematite escaped, using the warp pad to go wherever.

Ruby and Pearl regrouped with Amethyst, helping her up. The white Gem had held onto Sapphire, which was tucked in her sash. She brought it out and placed her on the temple ground.

"What was that?" Amethyst asked, her head ringing.

"Quickly, Ruby!" Pearl ordered frantically. "We need to get to the bubble room!"

Knowing why, Ruby nodded and ran with her to the temple door. "Right!"

"Hey, guys! Wait up!" Amethyst exclaimed, looking down at her Gem. She sighed as she didn't see any scratch on it. "Seriously!" she yelled, watching as they took off without her.

* * *

 **A/N: This was rather short. I had to rewrite the first part because it had Amethyst being a little darker than I needed her to be. She was supposed to be the new leader, but was still optimistic and somewhat of a comic relief like in the show. I didn't think that I needed to go into detail with Sapphire's future vision, because I wanted it to feel like she's just skimming though it.**

 **Also, the fight between the Crystal Gems and the post-Corruption Gems was made last second because there was an unfilled quota, which was "reach two thousand words at least". I thought it was short, so I added that, and I still think it's short. (EDIT: it's actually not. I was paranoid.) Plus, they were only supposed to cameo here and play a bigger part later... But I think it still fits and gives you an idea of what they're capable of. So, there's that.**

 **I also have an explanation for why they're male. (Shrugs) Becuase they want to be.**

 **This chapter was supposed to be Ruby and Sapphire-centered... I'm sorry. I don't know how to write them. They feed off each other, and them being separate made them a little harder to convey.**

 **Breaking News: This chapter, as stated above, was supposed to be Ruby and Sapphire-centered, thus the title.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Rogue Nation"**


	10. Chapter 9: Rogue Nation Part I

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 9: _Rogue Nation Part I_**

* * *

Pearl and Ruby ran frantically into the bubble room.

The white Gem had a head start, added with her long legs, she had reached her destination faster than the red one. Pearl's eyes looked over at the large amount of Gems being bubbled in the translucent spheres, next she looked down, following the dark pillars to the marble-tiled ground. Then, she saw the yellow figure with her arm outstretched, the bubbles moving closer to her fingertips.

The white Gem recognized the bubbles, which were made by Rose Quartz.

"YOU!" Pearl hissed, pupils shrinking to the point you could say she was insane. "Don't you dare get _any_ closer—"

"Ah, _Pearl_." she replied, her voice full of exaggerated expression. She spoke with waves of tones like she wanted to hear more of her voice. It was probably because she was only active recently. "I've heard a lot about you. I can hear their shouts, their cries, their anger. Most of them filed under _your_ category."

The yellow figure spun, revealing golden eyes that hypnotized her into a trance. She was tall and slim, had a confident posture and a bounce in her walk. She had her lips curled into a smile, one that conveyed hidden secrets and rumors. Her hair was let down, with an energetic shine but had that frazzled look.

"How does it feel to be popular?" the yellow Gem asked, standing over her. Pearl gazed up, jaw hanging, unable to respond. "There are just... _so_ many of them talking about you right now!" she laughed, a hand raised to caress her cheek, but never touching. "It feels like I've known you for _centuries_."

Pearl could feel a rush of energy coursing through this unknown Gem's fingers.

"You're... You're that—" the shorter Gem stuttered.

"Yes, the Corrupter. I'm the one leading the... _Corrupted_?" she answered with a tone of disappointment in her voice, nose scrunched as she inwardly berated at herself for making such an original name for a group. A bubbled Gem flew into her grasp. "But did you know," She touched the tip of the bubble, seeing it turn to ash, and tapped the Gem inside it. "I also possess the cure. I can... _uncorrupt_."

She let the Gem go willingly, allowing the bubble to roll away on the floor. It sprang into life, centuries of being trapped inside a bubble, hoping to regenerate. It was finally free! It got up, taking its physical form, and revealing a vibrant blue color and humanoid structure. Its Gem was unknown, but if the Corrupter were to take a guess, she would probably say its a Cyanite.

Pearl gasped. She didn't bubble any uncorrupted Gem. Except for Onyx. Then that means—

"Yes, I can see it on your face. You're surprised." the tall Gem said, a smile planted on her lips. She just set a gear in motion.

"How... How _could_ you... _corrupt_... _all_ of them?" Pearl stammered, trying to find the right words. Her mind was thinking straight, only a flush of plans to get this unknown Gem to her side and heal all the other Gems. If she had known this amber thing that corrupted things was truly related to the Gem corruption, she would've gone down that amber drill excavation.

"How could _you_ bubble them?" the Corrupter retorted with a raised eyebrow. "Simple, I have my answers. One of them is: it was _never_ my intention. Being stuck in a block of amber, under the sea, _really_ just accumulated a _lot_ of excess energy. Seeped out of my... _core_."

"You're gonna fix this, right?" Pearl inquired, standing her ground. "Just like how Rose would want it to?"

"Ugh!" The Gem snarled in disgust, head falling back. "I'm getting a _lot_ of feedback from that name. It's just so..." She circled a finger at her head, hearing the different frequencies of bubbled Gems. The yellow Gem made a sigh of relief. "... _ahhh_. I get it. She's your leader." A few seconds after that, she corrected herself with a bitter tone. " _Former_ leader."

"You _dare_?" Pearl demanded, a sharp rise in her hidden anger.

"No, no, it's just..." The yellow Gem looked over at the clueless post-corrupted Gem, who was gawking at the other bubbled Gems. "I'm sorry. I took her memories. It's part of uncorrupting them. She won't be a bother." The Corrupter aimed her palm at the unknown Gem, and forced her state into a dog-like creature. " _Much_ better. More convenient for me. She'll be loyal."

Pearl took a step back, stumbling on her footing. She just watched the Gem revert back into a corrupted form. And the Corrupter did it as easily as counting. She could've done that all this time?

"Now, I have a master plan to get to. This world is full of disappointments." The Gem said, walking away. As she went away, she muttered, "They aren't even _evolving_."

Ruby stood from the door, watching the intimidating Gem walk away with a dog following her. Pearl glanced back and saw an infuriated Gem just staring at her in disbelief. Amber just looked back, smirking, and snapped her fingers. There didn't seem to be any setback to this, but if any of the Gems looked closely, all the Gems in their bubbles gave off a shimmer. The yellow Gem took off, to another exit that they didn't know of.

Pearl blinked at the red Gem, already forgetting that she had just confronted a giant yellow woman with the power to reverse the effects of Corruption.

"Pearl," Ruby pointed at where the Gem had vanished. "She was _right_ in front of you." she informed bewilderedly.

* * *

The next few days...

After school, Steven had gone back to his home with Connie. The two planned on practicing the recorder, just in case Perry wanted to. His fingers were covering the holes, and he blew into the pipe, which played a harmonious tune. Connie was listening intently.

"You should join the music club." she remarked, readjusting her glasses. "You sound great with every instrument."

"Really?" Steven asked in disbelief. "I don't think that's true. You try."

He gave her his recorder, and she took it, playing a tune that was similar to Steven's, except it was a little off. Steven didn't notice it, but Connie did, which was why she stopped midway and sighed.

"What's wrong? You were doing great!" Steven informed.

"No, I wasn't." Connie replied, rubbing her eyes. "It's just..." She then raised a brow. "Wait, did I just use _your_ recorder?"

"Yes."

"Did you wipe your saliva off?"

"No."

"Yuck." Connie stuck a tongue out. "Gross. I have your spit."

Steven shrugged, "It isn't that big of a deal."

"Steven!" Connie replied, inwardly exasperated. "We just commited to doing an indirect kiss."

"An indirect kiss?" Steven asked.

"It's when you..." Connie blushed, looking away. "Never mind. It's hard to explain."

"Mmm." Steven responded.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

Connie turned her head, looking around. "Why is everything turning blurry?"

"What do you mean?" the demigem asked, flopping onto the sofa beside her.

"I feel like..." Connie removed her glasses, rubbing her eyes. "...my eyesight got worse." She took a peek without her glasses, and saw everything crisp and clear. She widened her eyes, blinking. Looking down at her glasses, she put them back on, trying to fix the otherworldly mistake, before realizing she couldn't see with her thick-rimmed glasses. She took them off again, experimenting with her eyesight.

Clueless, Steven asked, "What are you doing?"

"I... I can see!" Connie exclaimed, laughing cheerfully.

"You can always see." he replied.

"No! Not like that!" She jumped to her feet, grabbing a random book that was scattered on the floor, and flipped through the pages, unbelieving that they were all so full of detail. There was no blur, or wet gleam in her eyes. "I-I think being around you Gems healed my vision! Is there, like, some sort of healing energy you're emitting that helped me? Or is it because of all Gems? Oh! So, that's why when I search for Gems, I get results for "healing properties"!"

"I think you're getting a little over the top with this." Steven worriedly stated.

"No, I need to get to the bottom of this!" Connie said. She looked into Steven's eyes and trapped him against the sofa. "Tell me! Do Gems have healing properties? Did Lapis do anything to the air around you, or this house, that heals our injuries? Do you have the power to heal people?"

"Yeah, I kinda do." Steven answered, eyes darting to the corners of the room, anywhere but Connie. He felt butterflies in his stomach and it felt really uncomfortable. The demigem swore he could feel Connie's breath on the tip of his nose. "Lapis told me about it."

"You needed Lapis to tell you?" the human inquired, confused.

"It was a long time ago, back when I was a baby." he said, "I don't wanna talk about it. My powers are complicated. I told Lapis about what happened a few days ago, and she didn't seem too happy about it. I guess I'm on the path to the Crystal Jerks."

"But... wait, what?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you this! Lapis and I started training a few days ago." Steven told her.

"Well, how'd it go?" she asked, starting to sit beside him.

"I was able to activate my powers. But I don't want to do it anymore." the demigem informed. "I know how to use my shield... how to access it. I think I got my mom's memories."

Connie raised a brow.

"It's a long story. Anyway, Lapis doesn't think I need anymore training. Should I be happy or sad? I feel like Lapis doesn't know what to teach me anymore because of my mom. I'm happy I got to reach my "highest" limit, but I don't think it's that high. That's why I'm sad. Did she give up on me?"

"You're not making sense here, Steven." Connie replied. "You're bringing up so many points, it doesn't flow."

"I know! I have a lot of things to think about." Steven exclaimed.

Suddenly, the lights flickered.

"What was that?"

* * *

BOOOOM! Lapis crashed into an electrical plant, tumbling all over the ground.

The ocean Gem got up, thankful that she had worn her trusty leather jacket. There was a reason she wore it, and the first one was to hide her Gem. The second one was to protect it. She heard leather had some kind of resistance, and was thought to be some sort of clothing, so she took the opportunity to get an advantage as well as look far more normal than before.

She spread out her water wings, forming them into gauntlets that looked similar to a certain fusion's. She had the power of mimicry, and knew all of the Crystal Gems' attack pattern. Steadily, the blue Gem placed a foot behind the other, to shift her balance.

Out of the smoke that was not mentioned beforehand, came a bulky figure that had a rock-like texture. It grunted, red-hot magma flowing through his veins, and rolled his arm, prepearing it for the next attack. Its Gem was located on the same shoulder, and upon activation, was a giant, red, holographic, metal-looking shoulder pad. Hematite looked really pissed and wanted to hit someone.

Lapis smirked. "So, what are you? Some random Gem the Crystal Gems had? Are you following their orders?"

"No." Hematite replied, with a deep voice. Fire started to spread through the cracks under his feet, and he dashed at Lapis, shoulder first. The blue Gem leaped away to the side, falling nimbly and stood in front of an electrical pole. The black Gem growled as he charged again, missing his opponent for a second time, and rocketed past the electrical pole, wires of electricity splattering everywhere, not affecting the rock monster at all.

"Oh yeah. You're not conductive." Lapis stated slowly.

"Hmph. That was your plan?!" he asked, full-yellow eyes narrowing at his enemy. Just then, he had a noble and knightly accent. "You use the element of water, and try to get electricity to affect rock and fire? You amuse me." He took a step back, readying to charge. "Learn to pull your own weight!"

Lapis retorted by pelting him with shards of ice, which didn't do anything to the black Gem. Hematite successfully crashed into Lapis, who grunted in response to the pain and tried to escape from his shoulder-tackle. There was an incoming wall that was made for the power plant, and they both rammed into it and made a hole in the wall. Hematite stumbled into the new territory, allowing for Lapis to free herself from his charge, but fell face-first into the solid ground.

"Ow." she muttered, rubbing her jaw.

"You're not retreated back in your Gem? Well, you're just much more enduring than I thought." Hematite remarked, getting up and dusting the concrete bits off his shoulders. "You have the soul of a soldier, I see. Never giving up. That is noble of you."

"Thanks. Never thought you would say that." Lapis retorted.

"You are welcome. Continue?" he assumed, taking a position.

"If you say so." Lapis raised her gauntlet-bearing arms. Knowing that water is denser than ice, she used the former to give her more punching power. But it doesn't stay in a fixed shape, so it was much harder for her to control.

The two charged, Lapis' gauntlet smashing itself into the shield of Hematite's shoulder. Both weapons cracked, but since Lapis' weapon was a liquid gauntlet, it reformed quickly and she took another swing at it. Hematite spun, narrowly dodging her punch, and spin-kicked her with his stubby leg. The ocean Gem fell back onto the metal railings that kept workers from falling into the real power plant, and rebounded off of it. She was about to retaliate with a kick from her, but Hematite pounced on her and they both fell into the depths of the power generator.

* * *

The lights went out again.

Steven went out to investigate, as did many others, and found nothing wrong with the electrical cables. He looked out onto the mountain, where the power plant was, and found clouds of smoke huddling over there. Connie arrived just behind Steven, looking around for any interference with the power.

"Lapis..." he murmured, his Gem glowing.

"Found you!" a speedy voice cried.

Not only a second later, the speaker of that voice zoomed and pulled Steven to the top of the apartment building, dangling him over the ledge. With incredible speed, nobody was able to notice until it was too late. There were still green and white trails that led up to him, showing his way path for the last ten seconds.

"Wait, you're not Rose Quartz." the lime Gem obviously stated.

"Let me go," Steven clasped his hands, "please?"

"That would kill you, wouldn't it?" Emerald questioned innocently. "I mean, I don't think humans can survive the fall."

"Oh. Right." the demigem said. Emerald turned and placed Steven down on the rooftop, patting him on the shoulder.

"Well then, small mistake, gotta run." And Emerald was off, wind blazing through Steven.

Steven groaned, rubbing his head. "Was that a Gem?"

Emerald zipped back onto the rooftop. "Oh! So I heard. My Gem radar _was_ right! You know about our existence..." The lime Gem picked Steven up by the collar and dangled him over the ledge once again. "Tell me, Rose Quartz, would you rather fall a boy or die fighting?"

"No no no no no! You've got it all wrong! I'm her son." the demigem stated. Emerald blinked at the statement, mouth slowly opening to reply.

"That doesn't... make much of a difference, to be honest." the Gem said.

"Steven!" Connie cried from down the street.

"Oh, so your name's Steven?" Emerald asked, his grip on the demigem's leg getting lighter. "I'm guessing a fall from this height ain't gonna budge ya. You're still a Gem." He gave a salute to the son of Rose Quartz, and closed his eyes in respect of the person he knew nothing of. "Adios amigo. If you live through this, I guarantee we'll meet soon."

He let go of Steven.

Connie screamed.

* * *

The principal of Promenade Elementary School, James, was standing outside of a peculiarly, normal-looking house, waiting for someone to meet him there. He had an unexpected call from one of his students, and she said that she needed his help with the interior design of the house. James sighed at this, knowing his time would be spent meaninglessly by visiting what many would call an alien.

She had a nice lawn though.

His student arrived walking on the pavement, trudging with discontent written all over her face.

"Hello, Perry Dott." James greeted. "What did you need me for again?"

Peridot had a bad day. She found a signal for the Rose Quartz Gem, and it led her to a cliff. She had some unstable signals of Lapis Lazuli energy, but she concluded that it would be some sort of item Rose was using because Lapis Lazuli were Gems that were useless on Homeworld and proved to have no efficient power. They were then used to power tools and never to be seen having a physical form ever again.

The green Gem burried her hands in her face. "I want you to help me fix my house."

"What's wrong with you?" James asked, raising a brow.

"It will be better... when you enter the house." Perry answered, opening the door to her house and letting the principal in. James got inside and looked around at the strange room consisting of many things that were placed in odd places. He heard the door close, and saw the green kid staring at the floor guiltily. "I can't take it anymore. I have to tell the truth."

She looked up at James, who was staring at the small pile of tools and equipment that had been thrown together with blueprints of "enhancer upgrades" and comic book issues of a metal man in the corner of the room.

"I am a Gem called Peridot. I came here from Homeworld to spy on you measly humans. I have since then proved to have no knowledge of acting like a real person." Peridot confessed. "That is where you fit in. You will teach me the basics, without anyone knowing."

James didn't have any reaction, and had a bored look on his face.

"I am sure this is a lot to take in. Given the fact that you humans know so little and did not know of my occupation as a spy." Peridot said worriedly, trying to make sure that James' inactive response was just because he needed some time to take in the new information. That was not the case. "It is okay. Take your time. The realization will come sooner or later."

"You know, you could've told me you were an alien. It would be much more simpler that way, and it would explain a _lot_ more." James replied, "I actually have no interest in trying to find more about you aliens. Let the scientists do it, it's their job. Not mine."

"So, it's settled. You won't tell anyone?" Peridot asked, raising a hand for him to shake.

"Gems aren't unnatural to us. We've known about this for five millennia." James told her, shaking her hand. "Besides, I once told some people that there was a secret society called the Revolution and everyone took it as a joke. So, what's the point?"

Peridot scrunched her nose. "You know, a while ago, I wanted to shake this random mother's hand after my greeting and she just ignored me."

"So, you're just gonna refuse to acknowledge what I just said about the secret society?" James asked, shoving his hand back into his coat pocket.

"That is none of my concern." Peridot replied, walking away from him. "That is something the humans will handle."

 _Really?_ James thought. _This is an alien spy? She's not gonna note the potential threat the Revolution will pose?_ He then put a hand on his chin. _Well, yeah, I guess I probably wouldn't too, to be honest._

"Anyway, we have to start on helping me make this place look normal. I have to make sure this place looks normal for any visitors." Perry said.

"Visitors?"

"I gave an address and location to the Steven Leslie who is friends with the Connie." Peridot informed, lifting up a box TV that was sitting on a wooden chair. She put it on the wooden desk, trying to remember the interior of Steven's house. "They might come some day. I told them I needed help for my recorder test."

James took the microwave that was sitting on the couch and placed it inside the kitchen.

Suddenly, Peridot heard her limb enhancers beep.

"What's that?" James asked, absentmindedly pulling the couch to a much better spot, like to the side of the wall.

"My limb enhancer." Peridot stated calmly.

"Oh, that thing." James remarked, now pushing the couch to the designated spot.

The green Gem rushed to the corner of her room, where her arm enhancer was placed from bottom to top. It had a few more lines of gaps between the metal surfaces. She thought it would be easier for it to become a set of "autonomous prehensile propulsion" limb enhancers that would come to her if she needed it to. So far, her experiment had been working with the help of the "comic book" hero. In fact, she got the idea from it, but was too proud to admit it.

Peridot put her hand through the top, and the limb enhancer opened up, making sure her forearm fit snuggly into it, before closing down. Peridot searched through her arm enhancer and found a Gem within the radar. She suspiciously peered over at the human principal, and back at her radar.

 _There is a Gem coming close by. Better deal with this as I have no other place to hide._ Peridot thought. She got up and went to the door, dragging her one arm enhancer. "I am going to confront a Gem. Make sure this house becomes normal." she ordered, and then she left, leaving James to redesign the house to how he saw fit.

* * *

 **A/N: I will have to leave this chapter as a two-parter, as I have a limit that these things cannot enter and want to make this story a lot fancier. Also, it gives me a reason to make the chapters sound cool with _Part I_ and _Part II_ , so there's that satisfaction.**

 **Also, I'm going to do a SCI-FI round with Lapis next chapter in the author's notes to explain some things about her powers. May also go around with Ruby, because she has a lot of potential. (Theoretically, she could actually fly and make plasma bolts [electricity] due to her heated ability)**

 **ALSO, congrats guys, we got 99 favorites and OVER A HUNDRED followers! Cheers! I love all of you. We're now on the second page when checking the top favorites and followers of the SU category!**

 **Breaking News: This chapter's name was brought to you by _Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation_ , which has nothing to do with this set of chapters. They just sound cool.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Rogue Nation Part II"**


	11. Chapter 10: Rogue Nation Part II

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 10: _Rogue Nation Part II_**

* * *

Lapis groggily stood back up, finding herself in the hallway of some nuclear reactor.

She brought back her water gauntlets and wings out of nothingness, and saw Hematite getting back on his feet on the opposite side of the room, cracked pieces of his shoulder plate falling off. He created a new one after the last piece fell to the floor with a clink. It was exactly the same one as the last shoulder plating. Hematite gave an unceremonious growl.

"The gloves are _off_. I _will_ warn you, this next part is gonna be groundbreaking." Hematite informed politely, placing a hand on the ground. It was weird to hear someone that spoke in a noble fashion but had a beastly response.

The ocean Gem readied herself and hunched over, raising her fists by the sides of her head. "That's assuring."

CRACK! A giant split opened the floor, rumbling the entire ground. The earth shook, vibrating with the command. A fissure had just erupted from Hematite's hand, and Lapis gritted her teeth at the damage. The crack had tunneled over a hundred meters below the Earth's crust, and into magma level. Still, she continued to act like she didn't care.

The blue Gem scoffed, "What does this prove?"

"Wait and see." he responded.

Sooner than she expected, a yellow glow illuminated the entire building. She felt herself burn and her water gauntlets boil. Her eyes widened, staring bewilderedly at the black Gem, who didn't seem too concerned about the upcoming ordeal. Lapis straightened her thoughts, throwing her arms over her face, as the water wings did the exact same thing, wrapping itself around her. It froze and turned to ice, before lava spiralled at her like a volcano.

* * *

As Steven fell, his reactions quickened and he brought out a shield just before he turned into mush on the road. The pink shield absorbed most of the impact from the fall. However, he still got his face slammed abruptly into his arm, since he held it out in front of his eyes. He groaned in pain, still not used to his muscle memory doing the work for him, _and_ that his young body wasn't like his mother's, who had firsthand experience with this.

"STEVEN! Oh, Steven, are you alright?" Connie questioned worriedly, rushing over to him and placing a hand on his arm.

"At least better than any ten year-old that fell off buildings..." the demigem joked.

The human stared at the glowing, pink disk. "You have your shield..." she stated, amazed.

"Yeah, I can control it now." Steven replied, hissing as he rubbed his shield arm. It was still sore from the fall. " _Oww_ , it _hurts_. It feels like I just slapped myself twenty times."

Connie tried think of a way to help him. She tried helping him up, which he thanked her greatly. Now, she needed a way to treat his arm. It could be broken, dislocated or fractured... internal bleeding, even. "My mother's a doctor. Maybe she could—"

"No. I could fix this up." Steven informed, spitting on his arm. Connie stepped back from how weird it was, then she remembered how her vision returned when they had that... "indirect" kiss.

Before he knew it, all the burning pain in his arm went away, like the healing spit was a fire and the injury was the forest. It cleared out pretty fast. Good as new, as he liked to call it. He rubbed it, clenching and unclenching his hand. He felt his fingers, and made it do a little random dance.

Emerald sped back to the ground floor, his green and white speed trail showing that he ran down the walls of the apartment building. He gazed at the demigem, intrigued by how he was able to heal himself. But that only strengthened the idea that he had the Rose Quartz Gem. Well, he had a feeling, that Rose Quartz had the power to heal, but not the exact memory. He didn't know why, but the idea was lodged in his head.

"So, you _do_ possess the Rose Quartz Gem." Emerald stated with glee, before recomposing himself to keep a frown on his face.

Steven pulled Connie behind him. "I already told you! _I'm_ the son of Rose Quartz! That's why I have her Gem." _Wow. That came out... strange. I feel a sense of enlightenment. Wait, where'd the word "enlightenment" come from? Steven thought. I think my new powers are affecting me... I mean, my body is doing the work for me, and now my mouth? What's next?_

"Already got that figured out." Emerald said, responding to Steven's statement.

Steven noticed the lime Gem's body straighten and stiffen, and immediately pulled his shield out in front of him. He was lucky to trust his instinct, because Emerald had charged at the demigem and thought of bashing him full-force. Instead of taking the impact with his body, the shield went WHAM and took the force instead. Still, the amout of momentum Emerald had slammed into the shield, passed through, and Steven went flying.

"WOAAHH!" the boy screamed, landing back into the hood of a car, crumpling metal under his body. "Oww... that hurt..." he remarked, shield disappearing as he rubbed his back.

Connie stood between Emerald and Steven. "Stop it!" she insisted.

The lime Gem ignored her, thinking she was just some random human, and sped past to get Steven. Emerald took him by the collar, pulling him up, and reached behind his green neck, where his Gem was located. He pulled out a baton, and left it to his side. "Alright, _kid_ , do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way? I've got orders to kill you... still _rings_ in my head." the Gem rubbed his temple with the stick in hand. "Don't know why. All I know is that I'm made for this. Literally."

"You know... I don't know what to pick, but something's telling me to fight back." Steven informed, clasping a hand on Emerald's arm. "And believe me... when I say... "sorry". So, I'm sorry."

"Wha—?"

Steven brought a shield out with his free hand, and punched the edge of it into Emerald's choking arm. Emerald cried out in pain, releasing his grip on the demigem, and clutching at his fractured forearm. It looked like it bent in a place it wasn't supposed to bend, which also shocked Steven. He was playing by vague memory, and every response he had to this grabbing the collar thing always resorted to this attack.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know it was going to do... _that_!" the demigem pointed at the Gem's broken arm.

"Well... least that settles it." Emerald replied coolly, whipping his hair back. "Hard way it is."

Steven's eyes widened, as he unknowingly did a backflip on the rear of the car. He felt even luckier when he did that, because Emerald slashed his baton at where he was a moment ago, and with one mighty swing, he was able to tear through metal and even made it look like water. It must be his speed attributing to how much energy he gave off in one prepared attack. If he was that powerful, Steven should block all his hits everytime, or he'd be done for.

Emerald's leg did a twitch, and Steven was able to see it. In time, he was able to raise his shield above his head. The emerald Gem smashed his fist against Steven's weapon, with the explosion of a sonic boom behind it. The demigem was thrown back again, but the shield absorbed most of Emerald's punch, saving him from the attack, however it was about to shatter. Steven flipped in the air, and was able to land straight, albeit from a few stumbles, and toss his cracked shield at Emerald.

The quick Gem caught the shield, and returned it back without losing any momentum. In fact, he added much more power into the throw than Steven had.

The demigem rushed his arms out, and a pink forcefield shot out from the ground. The shield broke into pieces upon touching, and faded into thin air. Steven let his arms down, tiredly huffing from the use of his powers. He was getting exhausted. But he felt compelled to keep moving forward. He didn't know why, but he thought this was related to that voice in his head a few days back. He thought it was his real mom being with him, and controlling his actions.

He had one thought in his head that he couldn't quite forget.

 _Take care of them, Steven._

* * *

Peridot trekked through the forests, only having one limb enhancer to guide her. She was used to the human means of physical contact. It didn't bother her much, and everyone thought of it as normal to see her without her limb enhancers. It made her feel special.

"The Gem should be righhht... here." Peridot thought out loud, having a liking to the human impulse of talking to themselves.

She looked around her, and found nothing but trees, leaves and trunks. Under her sock-feet were branches, twigs and dirt, some deceased leaves here and there. The green Gem looked behind, and saw the path she walked into, and everything else like trees. Trees, trees, trees, they were everywhere in this forest. If only they cut down all the trees, the forest would be so much better.

"Oh, yeah." Peridot looked up, gazing at the blue sky and white clouds. "The forest consists of trees. That's their _literal_ definition."

She scratched at her pale yellow hair.

"What the crud was I thinking about; cutting down all the trees and making the forest that much better? If that were the case, this wouldn't be called a forest in the first place." Peridot told herself, "Absurd Peridot. Why am I even _thinking_ about the _trees_? I'm here to investigate the Gem energy that's around." She then shrugged, "And _eliminate_ it to protect my cover."

She heard a noise in the trees, and immediately switched the peaceful state on her arm enhancer to attack mode. At this, the arm reconfigured itself to better suit the situation, transforming from smooth metal to opened-up weaponry that can be seen. She didn't mind how hostile it looked, she just took it from the fictional "comic books" and thought it was a good idea to scare off the enemy.

Peridot aimed the gauntlet at the noise, preparing to shoot laser beams like that metal man in the comic (who, of course, was only copying her style). Four of her mechanical, floating fingers were pointing at the one that was in the middle, and also acted as the tip of her weapon.

"I know a Gem is out in the forest! Reveal thyself!" Peridot shouted, accidentally copying a phrase from what she had seen in the other comic book.

Instead of getting a verbal response, she got chucked with red spikes. Peridot rolled away, having since been the top of the Peridot category in the art of battle (almost defeating an _Amethyst_ in a fight, who would've thought?). She prided herself in her skills, and at the same time, opened fire at the source. Her green energy ball burned a hole through trees and leaves, but not hitting anybody.

"Stop fighting like a coward! And fight like a Gem!" Peridot yelled, almost slapping herself from how "Jasper" that sounded. "Actually, ignore that last part. I'll need to come up with something more formal-sounding."

Peridot paused for a moment.

"I humbly request for you to fight like a real Gem in a battle of war." Peridot said, smiling with delight from how that sounded.

"Alright, kiddo." A Gem jumped out from the trees, looking red and spiky, having an appearance of a flame. But he was just full of projectile spikes. "But back in my day, Gems don't rely on technology. We relied on our own power."

Peridot raised her enhancer to aim at the crimson Gem. Upon further inspection, she noticed something peculiar. His weapon should be a combat-ranged weapon if what he used last time were the spikes on his body. But he doesn't have it out like a normal Gem would. If he didn't have a Gem weapon of short or far range, then he didn't have a weapon of his own. Or he doesn't know how to. Strange, considering his use of the word "back in my day", which implied he used a weapon.

"Well, you don't seem to be using any sort of weapon either." she pointed out.

"What—No, it's just—I'm not defective—I'm perfectly oka—" Spinel stammered, unable to make a comeback at her. "You're using technology!" he finally exclaimed.

"So?" Peridot retorted, "Get with the modern times, you ancient Gem."

"ERR! That's it! Killing you now!" Spinel threw an arm out, sending spikes in Peridot's way. The green Gem smirked and brought her enhancer forth, opting to use a plasma shield.

FSSSS... Smoke billowed out of her green, mechanical arm, electricity sparking around it. Spinel's projectiles struck the ground, while one of them lodged inside of Peridot's machinery.

"What? No!" Peridot yelled, prying open the enhancer. "Don't fail me now!"

"Hah! You're useless now!" Spinel exclaimed, picking out a spike from his arm and was about to shoot it between her eyes. "Vulnerable for cracking!"

"Not really." Peridot responded, glaring. Just then, three cylindrical objects rocketed out of nowhere, disturbing trees and breaking branches. Spinel ducked, narrowly missing the one that aimed for his head, which also headed over at Peridot with breakneck speeds. The green Gem simply lifted up her leg, and the cylindrical rocket opened up, before clamping around her leg.

"Dang it! You have backups of that treacherous tech!" Spinel shouted, forming a fedora on his head.

"Treacherous?" Peridot asked, trying to fit the arm enhancer that was hovering a bit too high for her. The other leg enhancer was flying around, its fuel supposedly endless. She gave a smile. "Please, these are _way_ past treacherous."

"That thing you're doing with your mouth is uncomfortable." Spinel stated. "Stop having your mouth curved like that."

The green Gem fitted the arm enhancer on, and got both her legs back. The limbs gave off an electrical shimmer, ready for use. But since Peridot had been experimenting with it, she had no real clue if it was safe until now. Peridot finally responded, "What? You mean... this?" Her smile widened.

"That... is just disgusting." he informed, pulling a few spikes from his arms, preparing himself to fight the green Gem.

The two had plans of killing each other for their own purposes: Peridot, for her cover, and Spinel, because of his programming. Peridot started the awkward fight with a blast from her enhancers, leading Spinel to chuck the spikes he had at her, before fleeing away into the forests.

 _Crud! He's going to get reinforcements!_ Peridot thought. _Then, they'll know I'm here._

So, her feet started blasting her up, beginning with some energy propulsion that let her fly. And she engineered the same technology into her arm enhancers to balance it out. Basically, she was taking the idea of that comic book too seriously.

And she blasted off into the depths of the forests, following Spinel's trail. Peridot wasn't used to the flying spectacle, and had to deal with smashing through branches with her face, but she was a Gem and had a visor, so she was fine. Spinel, though, had a hard time, since he was fleeing away on foot, while she had the advantage of her tech. In the corner of his eye, he could see Peridot gaining on him, so he shot a few needles at her, which all missed.

He leaped over a fallen log, and got an idea.

He started attacking the tree that was a few hundred feet in front, and struck it with his spikes, which were forceful enough to break through the trunk. Peridot didn't notice what he was doing, and let him do it since it didn't bother her. She prepared to attack by aiming an energy ball at him, but to do that, she needed to put more power into her legs to compensate for the loss of the output of one arm. Spinel and her got closer to the tall tree, and the red Gem threw one last spike, which fully destroyed the central part of the log.

It started falling, against the wishes of the other trees.

Peridot was almost able to shoot him with an energy blast, but the energy reserves for her leg boosters ran out, so she couldn't keep up with him. Another setback to this was that she couldn't stabilize herself in the air, since she needed all the limb enhancers to work for her to fly, or at least the energy output of four limb enhancers. Thus, she collided into the dirt, letting fallen leaves and twigs fly around. The crimson Gem had disappeared off into the forest.

The tree finally fell with a CRASH!

Spinel didn't need it, but was thankful it happened. Just in case.

* * *

Lapis Lazuli fell through the air, heading towards the central part of the city.

Her eyes opened, just in time before she landed in the concrete ground with her face. With a wave, she brought out her water wings, and paused midair, allowing herself to slowly step on the ground.

 _Let's see, got shot into the sky because lava shot out from the ground and hit me._ Lapis thought. _Check that on my bucket list._

She turned around, only to have Hematite crash-landing on her with his shoulder plate. The ocean Gem didn't have enough time to do anything, and got hit with the rocky Gem that followed her through the skies. Suddenly, landing on her face didn't seem that much painful. They quickly moved into a traffic of cars, people screaming and shouting, getting out of their metallic vehicles. Lapis got her head back into the game, and swiped Hematite away with her water wings.

"You and your liquid tricks!" Hematite bellowed, "It's very annoying!"

"That... was the worst phrase of anger I have ever heard." Lapis remarked. "Are you even trying to be hurtful?"

"You little... _twat_!" he shouted angrily, carrying a truck with both arms.

"Honestly, I can say I am." she chuckled, before striking him with water from the fire hydrant. It caused him to drop the truck and pushed him into the middle of the road, where another truck honked, unable to slow down, and struck him at forty miles an hour.

"This is no place for a good duel." Hematite informed, only irritated by the truck hitting him.

"I'm glad you noticed." the ocean Gem replied sarcastically.

Suddenly, a trail of green, white and pink sped past her, and tumbled around on the ground, revealing Steven with his shield and Emerald. Hematite barked at the speedy Gem, "Really?"

"What?" the green one asked.

"You had _one_ job." the rocky Gem stated.

"Steven, stand back." Lapis said sternly, pulling the demigem behind her. "I've got this."

"Both of them?" Steven questioned worriedly.

"But, you couldn't even defeat me by your own!" Hematite replied, feeling offended. "I mean, yes, Emerald is pretty much useless when sided by me—"

" _HEY_!"

"—but I'm pretty sure the odds are against you if you don't let that little one help you."

Lapis glanced at Steven, who had his shield. He nodded at her, and she grinned.

"Hematite." Emerald groaned, facepalming. "Why did you give her the idea? This would've been so much easier if you weren't about the chivalry."

"What is chivalry?" Hematite asked rhetorically.

Emerald began, "It's—"

"I do not really care." Hematite interrupted.

Lapis Lazuli raised a giant water gauntlet on one hand, and a frozen spear in the other. She fired one of the gauntlets like a missile at Emerald, and gave the spear to Steven, who used it as his secondary weapon. The green Gem took in a quick breath, before speeding off. Lapis focused her attention on the speedster, making sure the missile caught up, as Hematite charged at her. He was stopped by Steven, who with a small frame, had big power, making for a great bullet.

Hematite was surprised that Steven could even redirect his charge, much worse than only budging him. The demigem's shield and his shoulder plate collided, giving off a shockwave that shattered all the glass in the proximity. Steven used this close-up to pierce Lapis' spear through the rocky Gem's defenses, effectively catching him off guard. The spear was stuck in his bulky body, but was easily shaken off.

"Amazing, for a human with Gem abilities." Hematite remarked.

"Thank you." Steven replied, "You're much politer than the green guy."

"Yes, he is brash and impatient, that one. He is okay on his own, since he doesn't cooperate well." Hematite explained.

"I'm sorry I'm gonna have to beat you." Steven said, readying himself to throw his shield.

"I'm afraid I have to say the same." Hematite replied, placing a hand on the ground and creating tremors from the lava underneath the crust of the Earth.

The demigem focused and threw his indestructible shield at the rocky, black Gem, stunning him for a moment since he was caught off guard for that as well. Hematite stumbled backwards, his hand not in contact with the ground. Steven picked up his shield as he rushed at the giant mass of rock, and struck the center of his shield into his center of gravity, knocking him flat on his back.

Emerald was running down the streets of the city as fast as he can, moving at supersonic speeds and crossing paths with his own trail at least five times a second, he was getting exhausted. He glanced back, and saw the water gauntlet-missile slowly catching up to him. The speedster went back to the highway where the other three Gems were at, and found Lapis as still as a statue.

He got an idea, thinking of zooming straight at her, pausing for a second, before dashing away, letting the missile hit her. The plan backfired, because Lapis grabbed him when he stepped on a puddle five meters in front of her, because prior to this, she had opened a fire hydrant and shot water at Hematite. Emerald cursed at himself for not seeing this sooner, and prepared himself for the brunt of the impact.

Instead of smacking his face, it landed at his legs, exploding into a large mass of water, and freezing over.

"Hah! You think this could stop me?" Emerald taunted, but knew he was pretty much screwed. All he could do now would be to helplessly throw a neverending barrage of batons. But he could never bring himself to do that, he thought he wasn't desperate enough. "I can break out of this ice cage faster than you can think! If you think you can stop me, y—"

"Yes. I froze your legs. Bye." Lapis retorted, swishing away and heading over to the other fight.

"No! Wait! I'm not done yet! I still have a list of things to say!" Emerald shouted for her, reaching his arm out. He sighed as he couldn't do a thing.

"That was an admirable feat." Hematite remarked, talking about how Steven was able to knock him down. "But you haven't defeated me yet. There are still more of us... I am not sure about that, but I just have this feeling. Whenever I have that feeling, it usually happens."

"So, you have an army with you?" Steven asked curiously.

"Not sure..." Hematite grunted, standing back up.

* * *

Back in the Crystal Gems' temple, hundreds of corrupted Gems were shimmering, bubbles seeming to crack.

* * *

"...but the main point is, you will lose the war." Hematite stated. "You are simply not strong enough."

Lapis was now standing by Steven's side, water wings turning into a cannon. "Wanna bet?"

"I was not talking to you." Hematite responded gruffly.

She rolled her eyes. "Sorry."

"But yes, you two will still lose the war. Along with the heroic squad and the homeworld spy. This war you're fighting will never end. If you surrender now, we promise something better than the ordeal you will get if you keep fighting." Hematite revealed, "And if it's not us, then something worse. And if it's not that, then something even worse—"

"Are you stalling?" Lapis asked.

"I actually don't know anymore."

Hematite was silent for a second.

"And then if it's not that, then it'll be something _way_ worse." Hematite added, much to Lapis' annoyance.

The ocean Gem groaned. "Really?" she asked. "You just _had_ to do it."

"At least, it sounded complete." Steven said.

"I'm going to finish this." Lapis stated, locking her water cannon at the target.

"No! Wait!" Steven exclaimed, rushing between Hematite and Lapis Lazuli. "He's not evil! He's polite, has a moral code, and even shows respect to his enemies! You don't have to... _finish_ him. Whatever that means in Gem terms. He's not that bad."

Lapis gave him a "what are you talking about, he turned lava against me" look.

"Human, even _I_ think what you're doing is absurd." the black Gem stated.

"Wait, you mean you're evil?!" Steven asked in disbelief. "But you're... But you're _so_ —"

"Not evil per se. More like, on a revolutionary side." Hematite said. "If there are no other opposing Gems, then we win the war and go with our ideals and ways."

"Which are...?" Steven inquired.

"I don't know."

"What do you _mean_ "I don't know"!?" Lapis shouted, "All this time fighting and you had no actual reason to?"

"I _do_ have a reason. It's just—Oh. Stalling time is over." Hematite informed.

"What?" the ocean Gem asked.

Emerald zipped over, and poofed Hematite with a baton to the head.

"What." she repeated.

The speedster scooped up his Gem and ran away.

"Oh, lighter travel." Lapis said. "Wait, what?" She glanced over at the ice explosion she made for Emerald, which only had a cave in there that seemed to have the melted volume of Emerald's legs. "He created enough friction energy to melt away the ice. Clever clod."

"Lapis..." Steven tugged at her jacket. "What just happened? Everything just went by so fast."

"Well, we both can agree on that."

Steven's next question made her think.

"What now?"

* * *

 **A/N: That's the end of the two-parter _Rogue Nation_. I don't remember what I was trying to accomplish, but it's finally done. My eyes are blurring. Things that changed was that Amber wasn't supposed to appear until later (next chapter), and that this was supposed to be one chapter. I cut it into two because I need to average out the chapter lengths to make it feel smooth.**

 **(TBH, I probably achieved nothing from that last sentence, since this chapter is still long. In fact, it's the longest chapter: 5K words.)**

 **Anyway, Peridot's new features were basically stolen from _Iron Man_ , because yes, I like integrating things. It feels comedic to me, and if you don't think so, then I don't know, it's probably not that funny anyway. Think of it as an intentionally done terrible joke, if you want.**

 **Anyways, I've never thought of their unique personalities until I've written them, which took a long time. I spent more time contemplating at the screen than typing down anything.**

 **Breaking News: I picked _Rogue Nation_ because it sounded cool. Plus, these new Gems are post-corrupted Gems, so I thought of them as rogues at first.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "My Name Is Umbrella"**

* * *

Sci-fi corner. Because I promised last chapter, but now I think I'll just scrap it. I'm tired right now, but I need to do this quick. So, quick thingy.

Straight to the point: storyLapis doesn't have the same powers as showLapis

storyLapis is this story's Lapis (my variation), and showLapis is the show's Lapis.

Both show and story versions of Lapis have hydrokinesis, but storyLapis has control over water on a _molecular_ level. showLapis only has it on basic hydrokinesis. storyLapis has advanced hydrokinesis (a term I made up) which means she could control the speed of the molecules. Okay, so molecules, when heating up, just vibrate, and when freezing, they just stop. So, storyLapis can turn water into ice or gas and can still control them. storyLapis could also form water out of thin air if its humid enough.

There is also an difference to their level of mimicry. showLapis can mimic things, because she was trapped in a mirror, and made water clones. storyLapis can use it to a physical extent, mimicking actions step by step perfectly from memory.

The differences between show and story could also be explained because storyLapis was stuck on Earth and read a few Physics books in some libraries, and adapted to her physical form for ten years, while showLapis only had a few seconds. storyLapis is probably much smarter than showLapis.

Their water clones are on the same level though. I don't think of them much. Shapeshifting, well, storyLapis has shown this, while showLapis hasn't. But we all know Gems can shapeshift. (or can they? Dun dun dunnn)

Anyway, this has been the sci-fi corner, which had nothing about sci-fi and only explained very little. Now I'm going to do Ruby some time in the future and never do this again. Because it's more boring than I expected.


	12. Chapter 11: My Name Is Umbrella

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 11: _My Name Is Umbrella_**

* * *

Amber sat in her throne, in an abandoned castle.

Stone walls were decored with growing moss, and even had hundred year-old cracks in them. The flags and drapes were tattered and some had sprinkles of ash on them. The floor had cracks and holes in them, some scratches that went deep and some that were superficial. The red and golden carpet were long drained of their color, and instead had varying shades of brown. The roof over the castle was torn down, bits of the ceiling were lying on the ground, covering more ash and old decor.

She sat there, where once an old king had staged himself in. Amber wore a headdress that resembled a cracked, golden crown. Her yellow eyes were flaring for quite a while, as if she was calling someone. The blue corrupted Gem was walking around on its four legs, snout facing down to sniff the rug. As it did its thing, Amber wondered what it would look like if she hadn't put it through the evolution stage, and kept it with the DNA of a million year-old dinosaur.

She kept that behind her head, and focused on the task at hand. She wanted to see the greatest this world could give, and so far, it was disappointing to her. The humans didn't look like they had evolved physically in the last couple of millennia. They looked the same, but only developed in a mental sense. They've created a system that allowed the proper human way of living, which to her, was pitying.

The old infrastructure, using primitive Earth materials had amused her. She liked the natural look of the castle, and this one in particular, which was why she had picked it as her basis. "Hmm... this is a nice foundation." Amber remarked, leaning her face on the palm of her hand.

The blue dog turned its head towards the yellow Gem.

"I know... I sound like a sentimental fool." she admitted. "But, I like the look of despair. It evokes a feeling of sadness. Something I should be getting used to, if the plan goes well."

The wind in the room spiked, revealing a trail of green and white.

"Do you ever feel like this world is _full_ of untapped potential?" Amber asked, almost like she repeated the question a hundred times over in her head.

Emerald didn't expect how their first meeting would be like this. All this time, he never knew who Amber was, since he was quick to follow the programming in his Gem after being... _un_ corrupted. This was his first time meeting his savior, and he didn't expect her to be that tall. All he remembered were the memories of his powers, his name, his mission, and the sense of Amber in his mind. Next thing he knew, he was out to fight four Gems before having a better clarity of his mission, which was to destroy Rose Quartz. Then, he felt Amber's energy again, calling out to him, controlling him.

He was forever in her control.

It must be her powers of corruption and uncorruption that let her influence his actions.

Snapping back into reality, Emerald responded to her question. "The humans?"

"Yes. Basically everything on this giant _rock_. Do you think there's something more than... whatever's going on with them?" Amber asked.

"I can think of some." Emerald answered.

"I can see them as potential armies. Great threats. But that's only when they have no qualms about ripping away their freedom. If it were not that, and their chaos amongst each other, they would do as a nice army."

Emerald crossed his arms.

Amber stood up from her throne, standing at an astounding nine feet. "But they're weak. Too easy to kill them all, wouldn't you say?"

"I _could_... probably..." Emerald shrugged, pushing his bottom lip against the upper one. "...you know."

"Kill? Yes. One of us could kill all of them. Easy." Amber informed. "There are _so_ many different ways you could kill them. I, for one, like the irony of the humans killing each other. The wars between them. The arguments that talk about peace, trying to stand each other, to make a bond. Betrayal. It is _amusing_. To watch the last of humanity's hope fight each other because of their hate."

"They're delusional." Emerald stated, awkwardly looking at the ground. The talk was getting to some level he didn't want to deal with. "But I have to admit... so are we."

"That is an advantage." Amber said, "Because if we have this trait, then so do those other Gems."

Emerald got what she was talking about, his eyes widening.

"That is... a good idea."

* * *

 _"I know."_

Amber's voice echoed through the burning room. Cracks started to form on the surface of the bubbles.

* * *

Amethyst felt a chill go up her spine.

She hadn't fallen into the form of a leader lately, and she thought she was failing at it. Rose Quartz was gone, the role went on to Garnet, and she was gone as well. Ruby nor Sapphire were willing to work with each other, and Pearl was insisting she was more of a knight than a commander. So, Amethyst had to take the role. But it was so hard, when the two people who were still alive that declined the role, were unintentionally fighting for it.

"We should take action! Find those three Gems, and contain them back into the bubbles!" Ruby suggested.

"We have to strategize. There's something deeper to this attack." Pearl argued, also trying to hide the fact she knew of Amber before any of this happened. "We'll find Steven and Lapis first, and then find who's behind this. It's probably just a distraction from Lapis."

"Well, of _course_. There's that yellow freak you talked to! She looks _exactly_ like Lapis, so it's _got_ to be her!" Ruby exclaimed sarcastically. She sighed, facepalming. "She was _right_ there! You could've poofed that Gem so we didn't need to deal with it! But you _didn't_." She looked away. "I don't know if your loyalty still stands anymore."

Pearl cracked when the red one mentioned "loyalty".

" _Loyalty_?" Pearl asked, her voice getting higher in pitch while her pupils shrunk. "You don't think I've been loyal? Do you know what I've been through these last ten years?"

"Yes! I know!" Ruby barked, pushing her nose into her face. "You've been crying back to that battlefield ever since Rose's son disappeared! You've done nothing but _mourn_! You're like Sapphire; escaping reality! You think sitting around will get Steven back? Or Rose?" Ruby's voice grew. "You _have_ to do _something_!"

"I _HAVE_ DONE SOMETHING!" Pearl shouted, limbs trembling with frustration. But she could still see from Ruby's standpoint. Out of the four, the red Gem had spent more time trying to look for Steven than anyone else, just to try to make up for making the "bad decision" to trust Sapphire.

" _WHAT_?" Ruby yelled, stomping her ground. "WHAT HAVE _YOU_ DONE?!"

Amethyst screamed. "ENOUGH!"

Both of them stopped, but Ruby had her eyes narrowed at the white Gem. Amethyst felt out of breath, having expended much of her energy on that one loud cry. Pearl had her fists clenched, before she relaxed, reminding herself that it was Amethyst she was dealing with. Ruby turned away, arms crossed.

"Amethyst, I... I'm sorry." Pearl apologized.

"It's okay, Pearl." the kindergarten Gem said, struggling with herself. She took a deep breath, and already decided what they should do. "We need to wait for Sapphire, and ask her what's the best thing to do next."

"What? Sapphire?" Ruby questioned with a fake laugh. "That Gem? She's practically useless."

"Ruby!" Pearl snapped. " _You're_ the one who's practically useless compared to Sapphire. She has future vision."

The red Gem snorted, "Oh, as if she'd be generous enough to check. There are _thousands_ of possible futures. If we don't take action now, something would happen sooner or later. Plus, she takes a crap ton of time to regenerate." She glared at Pearl. "Like a _certain_ someone."

Pearl stuck her nose into her face. "Sometimes, we need to be at our best to fight—"

"Both of you!" Amethyst's eyes were flared. "You're arguing like a pair of children. You think Rose would approve of your behaviors?" she asked, trying to persuade them to cooperate with each other for the time being. It didn't work out for her.

"Like you?" Ruby mumbled sarcastically.

"Did she ever approve of your behavior?" Pearl wondered out loud.

Amethyst blinked, mouth agape. Pearl gasped at what she just said. Ruby didn't even give an apologetic look.

"I-I didn—"

"I'm _trying_!" Amethyst cried, "You guys are just tearing me apart! You think I wanted to be here? I wish that Rose was here too, so that I can revert back to whoever I used to be. But she's not here, and neither of you are willing to take that position." She pointed at Ruby. "You tried, and you couldn't keep it together it because of _one_ mistake." She pointed at Pearl. "You think that you're so lowly and can't take Rose's part in this team. Then who else would? Maybe the one who's fed up with this and wanted to make rights to her wrongs!"

"Amethyst, you don't need to..." Pearl trailed off.

"Then _who_ will?" the purple Gem asked, her tone was more challenging. "Who's going to try to take the mantle?"

"Steven." Ruby answered, looking up from contemplating at the ground. "He was supposed to do it."

"Is Steven here?" Amethyst inquired, daring her to respond.

Ruby didn't answer.

"We will _wait_ for Sapphire." Amethyst ordered sternly, her stance was more of a leader now. "Until then, we will try to locate those four Gems. Steven will have to be put aside."

"I hope human children have a tolerance to ice." Ruby joked darkly.

Ignoring her, Amethyst plopped to the ground beside Sapphire's Gem. Pearl did the same, sitting cross-legged from the opposite side. Ruby snorted, smoke puffing out of her nose, and walked away with charring steps.

BAAAMM! The only door in the Temple shuddered. Amethyst narrowed her eyes at it, as Pearl stood up with a shocked expression. Ruby took a curious step forward, her face still stoic. Amethyst went over to the door to the pocket dimension, checking its state. Pearl was behind her.

THOOOOM! The door budged, but only now, there was a line slowly forming from the sides of the door, heading towards the center to connect with the star. It was going to open!

"Pearl! Ruby! Weapons!" Amethyst commanded, pulling out her whip.

Ruby raised her right arm, which was enveloped with light and formed a basic gauntlet. Pearl took out a spear from her Gem.

KRAACK! The temple's walls were starting to break from the intensity of the pocket dimension's insides. Rocks and pebbles were starting to fall on their heads. The lines on the door were reaching the center, about to open itself. The purple Gem looked back to her team.

"Pearl, how many Gems did we bubble?" Amethyst asked.

"Four hundred and eighty-seven." she answered.

"Then we're screwed!" Ruby declared.

The lines reached the center, and the door unlocked itself.

* * *

The next day...

Steven ate his cereal while in his pajamas, as he watched the morning cartoon of "Crying Breakfast Friends". There was an emergency news report, as it flashed through the screen, interrupting Steven's cartoon. He whined, changing the channel, only to see the same emergency news report play without pause.

"What's so important about thi..." Steven saw a silent video of a road bridge being torn apart by colorful monsters while the news reporter's voice narrated. He didn't recognize anyone there, but a trio beating an army of Gems. There was a purple Gem (that looked eerily familiar), a white Gem and a red Gem, all fighting other colored Gems.

"Steven?"

The demigem looked back, finding Lapis to walk into the living room, holding a tray of homemade cookies. The ocean Gem had her jacket on, but had an apron over it, which looked unusual. She saw the news report on television, and found Steven making a face.

Knowing its the face he used when he wanted to do something that was normally restricted, Lapis put away the tray and gently asked, "What do you want?"

"There are Gems out there. Fighting. We have to stop them." Steven answered, "Isn't that, like, our mission? To save the world with our powers?"

"Where did you get that from?" Lapis asked about the mission thing.

"I don't know. It just... _feels_ right." Steven said. He meant about his newly unlocked powers, and those new instinctive memories he had.

"We're not going."

Surprised, Steven couldn't help but anxiously yell, "Why?!"

"Because you have school." Lapis shrugged. "You can't go."

"Please, Lapis." Steven begged, getting off the couch and hugging her by the waist. "Please... we need to."

"No."

"It's not because of school, isn't it?" he asked.

The blue Gem had a distant look in her eyes. "We don't need to do anything."

Steven frowned. "I know why you don't want to go there. It's because of the Crystal Gems, right? Those three? The purple, white and red ones?" he asked. 'We have to help them. They're also trying to save this world too. Their ways might be... cruel, but we need to save the world we're standing on!"

"I'm not helping them." Lapis stated depressingly. " _You're_ not helping them."

"What would school accomplish if it's gone?" Steven argued. "We need to help them save the world."

"They can handle it." she said.

Steven blinked at that statement, glancing back at the television, that was now showing live feed of the highway bridge attack. He could see how ineffective their attacks were getting. And from a helicopter's view, he noted that there didn'f seem to be any large body of water around. Something about the way they fight seemed mesmerizing to Steven, like he'd seen it up close.

"They can't." he stated.

"They can." Lapis replied.

"They'll tire."

"Eventually. Not now."

"Lapis, please, we need to help them." Steven pleaded. "If you're not going, then... I'll do it myself."

The ocean Gem's awareness rose instantly. "You're not going anywhere without me."

"Then perhaps you'll be following me to the battle." Steven retorted.

"No, you're not."

"Oh yeah?" the boy challenged, springing a pink bubble around him. He never did it before, but somehow, he didn't feel surprised at all. Lapis stepped back out of shock, before sighing. Steven noticed this. "Why can't you guys just make a truce?"

"I've done some bad things that they'll never forgive me for. Which is why I've been avoiding them." Lapis answered, sitting down against the bubble. " _That_ , and... I was trapped in a mirror for centuries by them. I still have that grudge."

"How bad was it?" he asked.

"What? The bad things I did or the mirror?" she responded.

"The bad things." he said.

"You're better off not knowing." Lapis answered. "Maybe when you're older."

"Maybe?"

"Fine. _When_ you're older, I'll tell." she promised reluctantly.

"Does that mean we can go help them?" Steven asked, hoping to finally go help.

Lapis thought about it for a moment.

* * *

Steven and Lapis both snuck their way to the bridge, with the demigem smacking loose Gems with his shield. It dissipated when he didn't need it. Lapis regretted her decision to do this the instant they came across the Gem-infested bridge. It really was a battlefield. There were poofed Gems lying on the floor everywhere, with some of them cracked or shattered into many pieces. Lapis felt herself tremble with anger from the barbaric ways of their disposal of the Gems. They had lives too.

"Steven, this was a bad idea." Lapis stated.

"What do you mean? We cleared, at least, seven of them." he replied. "And not a single scratch."

"That's not what I meant." she replied. "I don't want to go face-to-face with them."

"But... well... we could help in secret, can't we?" Steven grinned.

"Heh." Lapis smiled. "I gues we can."

* * *

Amethyst had been fighting these random Gems for two hours straight. She and everyone else had been knocked out in the Temple, and woke up to find Beach City infested with Rogue Gems. They had no memory, and had only one purpose: to destroy. They all had yellow eyes. These Gems... whoever they were before, they weren't the same. They were practically lifeless, and didn't have any thought for themselves.

Pearl and Ruby were still able to keep fighting, but Amethyst was getting tired. Cracking her whip at Gems repeatedly was getting really tiring easily. Pearl and Ruby had other methods of beating the tar out of the Rogue Gems. Amethyst, not so much. She was supposed to be the leader, but even she failed in that. How could she prove, when she couldn't keep up with—

 _Wait._

Amethyst looked beyond the other Gems, and found...

 _Was that? That_ _was..._

Her thoughts went into a flurry of mixed emotions.

 _Lapis Lazuli? And Steven Lesie?_

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that was... short? (Is this qualified as cliffhanger? Pretty sure it does.) I was going to go more into Amber, but then I couldn't think of a better cut than this. So, yeeahhh. Also, it's been one month since this story's been published, feel older yet? I know I d—...well, maybe... do and do not.**

 **Oh, I've been dealing with the summary. Thinking of remaking it to better fit with how the story's going now. Actually, I'll keep it like that.**

 **Also, REVIEW, I need the motivation to continue this. Also, I need to know if you're liking this or not. Because most of the time, I'm kinda getting the feeling that most people don't really like the plot anymore. So, I'll apologize for that.**

 **Breaking News: "My Name Is Umbrella" is a pun on Amber's name. If you can't see it, "My Name is _Amber_ -ella".**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Bubbling Tension"**


	13. Chapter 12: Bubbling Tension

**A/N: Thanks for the motivation, guys! I love all of you. Now, time for me to reveal an embarrassing detail I overlooked last chapter:**

 **Amethyst doesn't know what Lapis normally looks like.**

 **I know, shocking, right? Even I didn't remember that! I guess, I need to remember details before I write stuff down. It's the little things like this that just make it interesting for me to poke at. It's amusing.**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 12: _Bubbling Tension_**

* * *

"Lapis Lazuli?"

Amethyst murmured to herself silently, seeing five Gems stuck in their own separate blocks of ice. She'd never seen Lapis Lazuli before, now that she thought about it, but she knew for a fact that Sapphire was nowhere to be found. The only other Gem that could freeze these rogues on their own terms was Lapis. And this must be a work of hers, which meant she was close by.

Oh, and that kid she met a few days ago was running away. Poor dude. Or he might be someone else, if so, he looked similar to Steven Leslie.

Punching a Rogue Gem in the face before whipping at their weak spots, which was basically their Gem, she took a second to watch them poof before taking a higher ground. Which was the roof of a car. That way, she could find out where Lapis was. But that was practically impossible. She didn't even know what Lapis looked like, and there were these other Gems that were crowding the bridge. She could see them climbing from underneath, adding all the traffic down there.

 _But, what if this wasn't the work of Lapis? Maybe it was some Rogue Gem that found out their freezing powers._ Amethyst thought. _No, that can't be right. If it was a Rogue's power, then why'd she freeze her allies?_ She felt a Gem creep up on her from behind, and backhanded it in the face. _This_ has _to be Lapis. There's no other explanation. Best to keep it in my head, in case I'm wrong._

Amethyst jumped off the roof of a car, landing on the chest of a Rogue Gem. She stomped on its neck, poofing it effectively, before grabbing an orange one by the collar. Using him as a shield, she smacked someone else with the orange Gem, while cracking her whip at a Gem that was about to get the jump on Pearl. The white knight had her spear pointed at a pair of Rogues, uncaringly shooting their heads off with energy blasts, before glancing at Amethyst. She saw two Rogue Gems behind the purple leader.

Pearl dashed at her, and Amethyst knowingly ducked, letting the white Gem flip into the air and kick one Rogue Gem while stabbing the other. When she landed, the one under her feet poofed, as she blasted a wave of energy through her spear, efficiently poofing the other, impaled Gem, while also shooting another Rogue that was just standing by the ledge of the bridge. That one got pushed by the explosion and fell off the bridge, poofing and cracking once it reached the ground.

"You know, I've got to say, these Gems are _really_ easy to beat." Amethyst remarked, standing back-to-back with Pearl. She pushed the orange Gem away from her. "Easier than those three that ambushed us earlier."

"Don't jinx us." Pearl reminded, throwing her spear at an incoming Rogue.

"There's a lot of them." she replied, punching the orange Gem through the face.

"I'm getting the idea that they're regenerating." the knight informed, pulling out another spear and stabbing a Rogue in the stomach.

"You saying we should shatter them?" Amethyst asked, kicking the orange Gem in the chest.

"That would be better for us." Pearl said, tripping a Gem by making a sweep at their feet. "But what about them?"

"What _about_ them?" the leader inquired, finally poofing the Rogue Gem she kicked and wrapping another Gem's arm with her whip.

"There's a cure." she replied, spinning around and stabbing the Rogue in the head, who Amethyst had caught by the arm.

"To corruption?" Amethyst grunted, pulling out the arm and unwinding it like a yoyo. Eventually, the dissected arm struck a downed Gem in the head.

"Yeah." Pearl breathed, kicking a Gem by the kneecap, shattering it like how she did to the modern-day pirate she fought back then.

"How do you know?" Amethyst asked, jumping up at the Rogue that Pearl had kicked, and lashing her whip at it.

"Ruby was right. I could've killed the commander of this. Instead, I let her live and she told me about herself." Pearl admitted, tossing her spear to Amethyst, who grabbed it and struck it into the side of the Rogue's head, letting it poof.

"She's the cure?" she asked, taking a small break and tossing the spear at the ground.

"Yes." Pearl answered, glancing back to see more Rogues climbing out from beyond their vision. "How are there still _more_?"

"I think we bubbled a little over four hundred." Amethyst panted.

* * *

Lapis didn't want to crack any of the Gems, so she turned them into ice sculptures of themselves. She didn't believe in poofing them, since it reminded her of being trapped inside that mirror. She didn't want to harm anyone, so putting them in physical stasis was the best she could think of. Meanwhile, she was letting Steven poof Gems with his shield, since he couldn't freeze them.

 _I mean, it's not like_ I'm _poofing them._ Lapis selfishly thought. _How did Steven get me into this in the first place?_

She raised her hand at an incoming Gem, which froze midway of rushing her. It clinked against the ground by the ocean Gem's feet.

"Oh right, he has persuasion powers." Lapis mumbled.

She waved her hands in the air, controlling the small water molecules in the air. Every Gem in the vicinity slowly froze with a layer of ice covering them. Steven bashed his shield at one of the Rogue Gems, which poofed. He caught it before it fell, and gently placed it back on the ground. He turned to Lapis.

"This..." he panted, sweat dripping from his face. "...is a _lot_... _harder_... than I thought."

"They're at least easier to dispose than those two Gems we fought yesterday." Lapis remarked, sending a wave of water at a group of Rogues, which turned into ice and kept them captive.

"How many... _are_ there?" Steven asked.

Lapis paused, thinking for a moment. "As many as the Crystal Gems have bubbled." she answered. "I _think_." she added cautiously.

"This is a lot... How much _time_ do they have? No, never mind, you guys are practically immortal." Steven responded. He threw his shield at a Rogue, who poofed since he accidentally decapitated her. He winced, still not used to being able to "accidentally" kill Gems.

Lapis spotted a white Gem that was about to attack her, she didn't have time to focus on stopping the water molecules, and raised her forearm to block instead. The Gem hissed as she tried to pry open Lapis' defenses. The blue Gem's eyes widened at the sight of the white Rogue, who was slender and thin, having a peculiar round gem. She reminded her of someone.

She realized it was a Pearl.

Ferociously, Lapis gave an inhumane roar and started thrashing at the Pearl. Steven was fighting off a green Gem with white hair, when he heard his surrogate mother scream. He turned his head, and noticed how Lapis was continuously striking the white Gem with her bare hands. The Rogue was already beaten into submission and was also trapped by Lapis sitting on her. It didn't respond to her punches. Steven threw the green Gem away to approach the intense ocean Gem.

"Lapis..." Steven called, rushing over to her.

The blue Gem was unresponsive to him, and rammed her fist straight at the Pearl's face. Rhythmically, she kept ruthlessly punching the Gem into the ground, exerting as much energy as possible to hit her. There was _so_ much satisfaction in hitting her, that she wasn't able to stop. It was too easy. The fire in her burned even more with each strike, the malicious energy sped up in her. The power of being the superior one. How much she could control the situation so easily, and decide the fate of someone else.

She felt a hand clamp onto her shoulder, and a loud scream that sounded like her name.

"LAPIS!"

Said Gem snapped out of her trance, finishing off her cruel work at trying to destroy the Rogue Gem that looked like her captor. The one that kept her in a pocket dimension for millenia on end. The one that kept asking her to work and show her the visuals of the war when she couldn't. The one that made the mistake of letting her free that night. The Pearl didn't move, and poofed away below her. Lapis huffed, shutting her eyes to recompose herself.

"Yes?" she said, still sitting with her head down.

"Who was that?" Steven asked, his voice cracking.

Lapis could listen to the sadness in his voice, and saw a little glint in his eyes. He was about to cry. The ocean Gem looked to her hands, the weapons she used to kill that Rogue. She was supposed to only freeze them, but she couldn't help herself and got carried away when she encountered the Pearl. What he saw must've been terrifying to him. To see such aggressive actions done in front of him. To see someone getting helplessly beaten by your loved ones.

"A nobody." she responded coldly, unable to keep a caring tone. "She just looked like someone I knew."

"You must've hated that someone." Steven deadpanned.

Lapis was surprised to hear that from him, because she swore he wasn't going to be able to look her in the eye. He must've understood how she was trapped in the mirror and had all these emotions. That must be one hell of burden to know that his "mom" was critically insane and unstable. To understand her pain, and live with it everyday, knowing the person beside him had gone through some stuff. He really was a tough guy for his age.

She felt his arms wrap around her, and his racing heart pounded against her shoulder. Lapis was aware of his condition, and placed a hand over his, and she felt his heart slow down, and kept a peaceful pace.

She froze the green Gem he didn't poof.

* * *

"LAPIS!"

Ruby's head turned toward the tunnel, where she heard the echo. She punched a Rogue Gem and lit her left hand into flames, and threw a fireball at the ground where the Rogues were standing on. She rushed over to the pair of Crystal Gems, who were fending off an attack on one side of the bridge. She wanted to tell them what she heard, but there were too many to talk. Noticing how many cars there were, she couldn't help but use them to her advantage, no matter the property damage.

Using her strength, she lifted a car, bringing it up and tilting her weight to better support the automobile she was carrying. With a grunt, she threw it at the oncoming army, which surprised Pearl and Amethyst since all they knew was that a car got hurled in their direction. But before it hit the ground, Ruby threw a fireball that aimed for the gas tank (which she knew because she'd been living in a barn). The car exploded, sending fire and a giant pulse of energy to Rogues.

"Ruby! Those aren't ours!" Pearl shouted, knowing the repercussions of property damage. Since, she worked for the government.

"We're in the middle of a war. Who cares what gets destroyed?" Ruby retorted, heaving up another car and thought of throwing it. "Plus, I need to distract them fro a moment."

"Put that _down_!" Pearl yelled.

"Fine!" Ruby replied, tossing the car back, but only upside down. Pearl's eyes twitched.

"Okay, enough! You two, break away." Amethyst ordered. Pearl turned around, checking on the burning Rogue Gems.

"I heard something. Someone yelled Lapis' name under the bridge." Ruby informed, gritting her teeth.

Amethyst's eyes widened. _So, it is true..._

Pearl, who heard, wanted to take action. "I knew it! Of course, Lapis had to be involved with this. We have to get down there!" The white Gem ran over the ledge and leaped down a thirty feet drop.

Ruby was going to retort, but Amethyst was already following Pearl down the bridge. The red Gem rolled her eyes, jumping over the ledge like them.

The trio could see a lot of frozen Gems, and were astonished they didn't notice this, except for Amethyst. They all thought it would be easier for Lapis to poof them instead of turning them into ice. It would be such a mess once it all melts. Lapis didn't know what she was doing.

"Hmph, at least I would have the decency to move these to a cold location." Pearl remarked, being progressively more infuriated.

"Like Antarctica?" Ruby snarked.

Much to her chagrin, it was Amethyst who replied. "Ruby! Don't joke like that."

* * *

Lapis felt a sudden chill in the air.

"Oh no." she murmured.

"What?" Steven asked, immediately getting his mouth covered by the blue Gem.

Lapis peeked out from the car they were hiding with, and saw the Crystal Gems, surveying the place. She knew what they were looking for, and tried to think of how they knew she and Steven were here. Then, she remembered how Steven had to shout her name to get her out of her trance.

"Stupid... how could I let myself get carried away?" Lapis asked herself, in a whispered volume.

"I think I heard something!" one of the Crystal Gems shouted.

 _In hindsight, should've left it in my mind._ Lapis mused.

Steven took a peek, and saw the same three Gems he saw on television. "Lapis, are those..."

Lapis nodded her head violently at the question, pulling the boy back into their hiding place. She took a moment to settle her thoughts. _What am I scared of anyway? I can beat them. Combined with Steven, they'll be no match for us. Also, what's the probability they're going to catch us when we run? Plus, I told them I froze Steven in Antarctica, they'll only think I've kidnapped this kid. No worries._ She relaxed, diminishing her hold on Steven. "Alright, we're gonna flee." she told him.

THUD! Lapis whipped her head back and found Pearl standing on the car they were hiding behind. She had a crazed smile on her face, and her white spear was by her side. "I _found_ them!" she proclaimed.

An anger relighted itself inside Lapis. Out of the three, it _had_ to be the one she hated the most. "On second thought—" The water Gem spread her wings and slashed at the Crystal Gem with water. "—revenge would be a good idea."

"Lapis, there's still time..." Steven stated.

"Yep, better idea." the blue Gem took Steven's hand and flew over cars, and revealing their position to the other two Gems. They went out of the tunnel under the bridge, and she was about to get on the higher altitude, when she felt her Gem burn and her back sprung forward. Lapis looked behind and saw the red one throw another fireball at her. She swooped down, dodging that one, but felt a whip lash itself into her chest. She spiralled out of control, and headed for the ground.

"Lapis!" the demigem shouted worriedly.

On the last second, the ocean Gem regained her senses and flew at a low altitude. Unfortunately, she smashed head-first into a motorbike, and rolled on the ground with Steven in tow.

"Ughh..." she groaned.

Steven, who was luckily uninjured, helped the ocean Gem up. "Are you okay?"

"YOU'RE NOT GONNA ESCAPE THIS TIME, LAPIS!" the red one shouted angrily, throwing another fireball at her. Lapis saw it coming, and lightly kicked Steven away, as she rolled over and dodged the attack.

Amethyst was gonna make an attack, but once she laid her eyes on Steven Leslie, she restrained herself. Why was this kid hanging out with Lapis Lazuli? Lapis took away their Steven, and put him in a block of ice in Antarctica. So, why did Lapis even bring Steven Leslie along? Was she trying to kidnap him? No, he was trying to help her too. How did those two meet? Why would Lapis keep Steven around? Why would Steven want to be around her? Why would...

Her grip on the whip loosened.

 _No. No, wait._ Amethyst thought. _That... can't be... Steven "Leslie"? Wait, Lapis Lazuli... Leslie... Lazuli..._

* * *

 _"So, it's Steven Leslie, right?"_

 _"Lazuli."_

 _"Leslie."_

 _"Lazuli."_

 _"Leslie! What's the difference?"_

* * *

 _"You can call me... Amethyst."_

 _"Mm. Like the Gem?"_

 _"You got a problem with that?"_

 _"Oh, no. It just... I have this connection to gems. It's really weird. You're probably not into it."_

 _"Whatever you say."_

* * *

Amethyst's jaw went slack.

In the distance, with the demigem. "Please! Stop fighting! We're not trying to hurt you!" Steven exclaimed, standing up and waving his arms around.

Lapis' eyes widened. "Steven! No!"

Back with the Crystal Gems, Pearl recovered from being struck by water and ran over to her teammates. Amethyst looked dumbfounded, and Ruby was heating up with rage. "What's that kid doing?" Ruby snarled, lighting up a fireball and aiming it at him.

Pearl smacked her hand away, thinking about the amount of destruction they had already caused. They were only going to fight Gems, _not_ humans. "No! He's a civilian!"

"He's... Steven..." Amethyst murmured, surprising the other two.

"What?! No, that can't be him! He's so... _big_." Pearl informed, forgetting it had been ten years since they last saw him.

"And Lapis said she froze Steven in Antarctica!" Ruby yelled, pointing at the blue Gem. "There's _no_ way!"

Lapis got up on one knee, before standing up. She reached over and touched the back of her leather jacket, which had a giant burned hole in it. Her only defense against attacks at her Gem was gone! She gritted her teeth, feeling nude. Her weak spot was showing. She was exposed to any attack to her back, she was vulnerable. Lapis spread out her water wings again, turning it into a cannon in her own control. She fired it at the Crystal Gems, who only dodged it at last second.

Putting the revelation behind their heads like it was some false information, Ruby and Pearl charged at the ocean Gem. "YOU'RE _DEAD_!" Ruby cried, dashing at her with a fiery aura.

"And you're _short_!" Lapis retorted, transforming her water canon into a fist, and shooting a pillar of water at the red Gem.

Amethyst was still trying to think about attacking, but couldn't do it.

She didn't have the tenacity or the determination that both Ruby and Pearl had. Because she just realized... she wasn't really angry at Lapis. All this time she had been planning on shattering her Gem, she'd never really considered about seeing her for the first time. And now that she's there, she didn't have those feelings of _rage_ or _hatred_. Because Amethyst wasn't angry at her. She was angry at _herself_.

For all the times she had been selfish. All the times she'd been lazy and carefree. She never thought twice about her actions. Now, she regretted them. All these dark thoughts weren't directed at Lapis. It was directed at herself, for being so imperfect and so... _useless._

She was made here on Earth, and with her upbringing, was the degradation of land in the world. Amethyst had second thoughts about living on the very planet she doomed, since her kind was the cause for the planet being imperfect. She was infecting everything. She was useless. She was only a setback to the Crystal Gems. And even when she was the leader, her only redemption, she failed that role miserably because she wasn't the one leading. She was following Ruby and Pearl in battle.

Amethyst hated herself for being so inefficient. And she wasn't able to figure out that Steven _Leslie_ was Steven _Lazuli_! How could she even be the leader at this point? She made too many mistakes to be considered one. Now, she... she didn't have any power... or any motivation to continue. She had no purpose in life. There was no reaason for her to even be there.

She just wanted to kill herself.

* * *

"Stop! We don't want to hurt you!" Steven pleaded. His words fell on deaf ears.

Lapis had punched Ruby away with a water fist, and turned around to find the other one. The _Pearl._

She furrowed her brows at the thought. Her captor. The one who trapped her in the mirror for millenia, and didn't think once of freeing her. She wanted to exact revenge on her, to take everything she loved dear and trap her in hell. She did that by taking Steven. But, it still felt... incomplete.

The white Gem was running towards her, and Lapis charged at her, tackling Pearl to the ground, and slammed a fist into her head, impacting the road and creating cracks in the asphalt. Pearl retaliated with a shove, headbutting the blue Gem away, and getting through the pain. She didn't give a second thought if her Gem had cracked, but she did want to destroy Lapis. All her mind could say was:

 _SHATTER LAPIS SHATTER LAPIS SHATTER LAPIS SHATTER LAPIS_

It echoed through her skull the whole time, commanding her to destroy the person in front of her. She had reasons to. She had _orders_ to. She was commanded to do such thing. When she was created, her purpose was to serve. And since Lapis had taken Rose away from her, it was only fair for her to take away her life.

Lapis seethed when she got that headbutt. She never realized how strong Pearl could be or how ferociously she would return back the attack at her. The Pearl she poofed back then didn't even hit back, but the one standing before her _did_. _Hard_.

The ocean Gem formed a pair of water gaunlets and threw a punch at Pearl. The Earth's knight dodged, spinning around, and ending up behind her. She elbowed the Gemstone in her back, trying to crack it. But it didn't work. Lapis kicked her in the face. Pearl was flung into a car, shattering the glass window. She got her head out and kicked at Lapis, only for it to be connected with a fist. They tussled for a bit, blocking blows and receiving cuts, before Lapis made a wide smash at her face.

Pearl spun with it, pulling a spear out of her still smooth Gem and striking it at Lapis' wrist. Stunning her there, Pearl took the advantage and rebounded off the car, jumping over her. Lapis spun, right in time to punch Pearl while she landed, but not in time to catch the energy blast her spear shot that caught her in the eyes. The white Gem landed gracefully, using this distraction.

While Lapis was blinded, Pearl had done a manuever she did many times: wrapping her arms around Lapis' waist, and doing a suplex.

Lapis' face smashed the concrete road, now lying on her front, with her back exposed. Pearl pointed her spear above the blue Gemstone, and sent it down.

CRACK!

* * *

Lapis felt her muscles spasm, and burning in waves she couldn't decipher. She couldn't see. Her eyes felt... misty. There was only black. Where's the water? She could see through that. Where... There's no water. None of it around. Only molecules. That's not enough...

But, she could hear things. Things she never thought she would remember.

 _"Another Lapis Lazuli?"_

 _Lapis Lazuli? That's... That's_ me _._

 _"Yep._ Another _worthless Gem."_

 _Worthless? No... I'm not. I can—_

 _"Put her in the station. Someone will gladly use her as a battery."_

 _Battery? But I..._

 _"Hmph, not like Lapis Lazulis are worth anything useful in the war. They can't summon their weapon. They're weak and fragile._ _They're just a setback."_

 _I'm not weak! I... I'm..._

 _"Yes, yes, we know Obsidian."_

 _"It's just... Gems are supposed to do something. But they don't. What's their purpose?"_

 _"Who knows?"_

Lapis felt herself being dragged around, energy draining away from her. There didn't feel to be any water around. Was this homeworld? It's so dry. Like, there isn't any water.

There isn't any water.

 _Oh._

* * *

"LAPIS!" Steven cried, rushing over to the downed body of his... _everything_. Lapis was his mother, his mentor, his sister, his teacher, his guardian... she was everything to him. Now, seeing her like this, defeated, was almost impossible. He didn't know how to react, it was just... pure instinctive anger. "NOO!"

Pearl panted, pulling out her spear to check on the damage. She huffed, head arching back in frustration when she saw the cracked Gemstone. _Why won't she just give up?_ Pearl thought

"WHY?" the demigem yelled at Pearl, "HOW COULD YOU?!"

"Why are you so emotionally attached to Lapis Lazuli?" Pearl questioned coldly. "What has she done for you to make you care so much?"

Steven ignored her, and checked Lapis' condition. Pearl didn't care if he looked, it wasn't like he could heal her now she was cracked. Only Rose Quartz was able to create the fluids capable of healing. Steven saw his guardian's face, and saw a blank look and her eyes... they were just reflections. She wasn't responsive. What happened to her?

"WHAT DID YOU _DO_?!" Steven demanded, tears welling in his eyes.

"I cracked her Gem. Too bad I couldn't shatter it." Pearl answered, pushing the boy away. "She's still down. I could use this time to crush the rest of her Gem."

"NNOO!"

WH _AAM!_ A pink shield smacked itself against her head. Pearl winced, stepping away and clutching the sides of her head. "How dare you, you _little_ —" she opened her eyes on saw the weapon that Steven used to hit her. "—sh-shi... R-r... Rose's... _Rose's_ _shield_!"

"BACK _AWAY_!" Steven ordered, voice cracking. He weakly pushed her back with his hand, and with a stunned Pearl, she was easy to push down. "MOVE!"

"You... You have Rose's shield..." Pearl gasped, her throat tightening. She backed away by dragging herself with her elbows. Her mind was still in shock, and she couldn't process anything by this. "...but... but that... that's not possible. You... You..." she finally realized it. "...You're _Steven_!"

"I am Steven _Lazuli_!" the demigem claimed, stomping his ground. "And you're a _monster_! Yo-You cracked Lapis' Gem..." he sobbed, tears streaming down his face. He tried to wipe it off. "...she only wanted to help..."

Ruby, from afar, was having mixed emotions. First, she got her butt handed to her. Second, that kid was _Steven_. _Their_ Steven. Amethyst was right! And she could tell, because he was able to summon Rose's shield. That was Rose's son that Lapis was trying to protect, but she said she froze him in ice! Why would she do that? She lied to them, for no reason but to waste their time...

"...so that she could spend time with Steven." Ruby muttered, everything coming together. She never froze Steven in Antarctica. Lapis used it as a distraction.

She glanced back at Amethyst, who was still standing there, unmoving.

Ruby looked back at Steven, who created a pink bubble around him and Lapis, and fled away. Pearl didn't do anything to stop him. Well, she couldn't blame her for that, she was at shock too. The hotheaded Gem took a few minutes to comprehend the situation, before getting up. She went over to help Pearl, but when she approached her, she was an emotional train wreck. She was huddling up against the car, and crying to herself.

"Rose... her son called me a _monster_..."

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, I actually never had any vision for Lapis befriending the Crystal Gems or vice versa. I just don't see it here. If they meet up one day, they'll probably be fighting, which I have put into detail here. I don't see any positive chemistry around Lapis and the Crystal Gems. Maybe after years worth of redemption, then yes? Otherwise, it would be a whole lotta awkward. Watch:**

Lapis: Sooo... I'm sorry about kidnapping Steven. Well, I'm actually not that sorry, because I hate all of you for trapping me in that mirror.

Pearl: I can never forgive you for what you've done. You took Rose from me.

Ruby: (insert ANGRY trash talking)

Amethyst: I'm actually not mad at you.

Lapis: ...

Lapis: That last one isn't a possible answer.

Steven: I'm sorry all of you have to put up with this.

Sapphire & Peridot: Where are we?

 **Well, now that I've written it out... It's pretty comedic. If it's not, then... yes, that is all done horribly on purpose!**

 **And the five day gap that I didn't update? That was also _totally_ on purpose. (I was actually having writers' block from the beginning. I couldn't convey what I wanted until I replaced old ideas with _better_ ideas. So, it came out better than earlier.)**

 **I have, like, booked the next seven chapters as of now. Only planned six of them. Totally looking forward to writing it. It's gonna be a fun ride.**

 **I also didn't know the reviews worked in a "ask and you shall receive" kind of way. Well, I had my suspicions, but I didn't think it would actually work. In any case, it keeps me looking forward to the day. (Sometimes I obsess over it and just stare at the reviews.)**

 **Also, this plays in my head everytime I see the reviews.**

Ford (me): Will you follow me?

Dipper (you guys): To the ends of the Earth.

Ford (me): Good, because that's where we're heading.

 **Also, I've realized the future of this story has some major consequences stemming from this arc. So, whatever happens actually has an effect in the future. Well, at least, I try to keep it that way.**

 **This chapter is also the newest longest chapter! Accidentally! I say "also" too much!**

 **Breaking News: The title came from the major usage and importance of bubbles in SU, and how there's supposed to be a lot of tension between Lapis and the Crystal Gems.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "The Safehouse"**


	14. Chapter 13: The Safehouse

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 13: _The Safehouse_**

* * *

It was a cold, windy night. The trees were moving in tune with the wind, and stray autumn leaves were flying around. It was dark out in the open, with only a few streetlamps and the light of the moon to help people see in the dark. A lone child was trudging his way through the empty streets, carrying a blue woman on his back. Steven fished out a pink note from his pockets. On the note was an address, leading to a small house in this town.

Steven hoped that she wouldn't mind if he and Lapis crashed at her place. He contemplated at the ground, walking with heavy steps. He had Lapis' arm slung around his neck, and her body was by his side. Her leather jacket was making it easier for him to let her hang on, otherwise her smooth skin would just let her slip from his care.

He panted, thinking about the events that had happened over the past few days. Lapis had trained him, that didn't work. The only thing that came out of it was his real mother unlocking his powers for him. Or at least, he thought that's what happened. Then he found a news report about Gems attacking Beach City, and persuaded Lapis to go with him and help, missing a school day. He regretted it. He should've listened to Lapis. The Crystal Gems could do the work on their own. Now he had to drag her cracked guardian and find a place to hide.

"Oh no!" Steven thought out loud. "Connie's gonna be worried sick!" he frowned. "I don't even know how to contact her. And even worse, I'm going to Perry's house without her! Or, instead of her, because... I don't know where she lives. She doesn't want me near her house either. She's going to feel so betrayed..."

Steven pouted. How could this day get any worse? His mother was broken, his best friend would be left out, and his real mother's friends were a bunch of bullies. Except for the purple one, she didn't look like she wanted to harm them. Also, she looked like the same color as that Amethyst shapeshifter he encountered.

A shapeshifter that had a Gem as their name...

Steven realized it.

"Wait. That means... I met a Crystal Gem before! She's the friendly one. She didn't really try to attack us. Well, there was that one whip, but after that, she just stood there." Steven told himself. "But it still feels... _wrong_. Like I'm missing something. Maybe I don't have enough evidence to support it. But, that has to be Amethyst... or it could basically be someone else."

Steven glanced at the pink note, and read the address again. He shifted Lapis' weight to one side so he could carry her better, and checked the postbox to see if he was at the right place. He'd been walking around to find one house out of fifty others, and now he found it. It seemed to be a cozy place, with a warm light being showcased from behind the curtains. He walked onto the front step, ringing the doorbell.

A few moments later, the door opened, revealing a green, triangle-headed kid.

"Hey... mind if we... crash your place for a bit?" Steven asked. "It's closer to my house."

* * *

 _"Hmph. Lapis Lazuli. Worthless. I'm not gonna use that for anything."_

 _N-No! I can do something. Just-Just let me out. Wherever this place is. Please..._

Lapis felt that Gem's presence walk away in disgust. She huddled in her little, dark corner, hugging her legs and putting her head down.

 _"I think I know a better way of using this Gem."_

 _What? Better?_

She felt herself getting tugged at. Then, she saw her arm freezing over. It became metallic. She screamed, eyes darting around for help. This couldn't be happening again. No. Not another millenia. The metal crept over and corrupted her whole body, encasing her in some kind of marble-like state. She felt herself contort, the agony of being molded by metal itself, and cried out for anyone to help her.

 _NNOOO! PLEASE. HHEEELP! SOMEBODY! PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU! STOP IT! STop..._

No sound came out.

Nothing could ne heard. Not even a whimper.

From all the anguish, her arms and legs seeming to numb. Her stomach feeling like it had been impaled by several swords. Her face was being crushed. Lapis felt so exhausted from this. Facing all the pain. She could feel her energy draining away like it was her blood, filling the metal container she was trapped in. She was drowning in her own sorrow.

Then... _finally_... she poofed.

She retreated back into her Gem.

But she could see. The face of a yellow diamond-like Gem, wearing a necklace of poofed Gems. Barbaric. Lapis couldn't feel a thing, all she could so was watch. Time went on. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, hours turned to days, days turned to years, years turned to decades, decades turned to centuries, centuries turned to _millenia_.

Then, she disappeared. Instead, it was replaced with blue skies. Then, someone picked her up, and examined her, revealing to be a Pearl.

 _Please... Help me. Can... Can you hear me?_

The Pearl ignored her pleas. She passed her on to a giant, pink woman. She... She could feel something. Warmth. For the first time in millenia, she could feel something. She felt hope. This was how she was gonne get out! Free from this hellhole!

Then, her vision of the woman cracked, separating into pieces of shattered sights. It turned distorted, her savior wore a grin. She cracked her. Wait. Why?

 _No... What... WHAT? HELP ME! I'M ALIVE! CAN'T YOU HEAR ME?!_

She felt... betrayed. That pink woman, she was glowing yellow. The Pearl, she was blurring out, turning golden. The blue skies, now tinted green. Her vision, it was cracking even further. What did this mean? What is all this!?

The Pearl took her, and she was enveloped into darkness. All she could see, was the vision through Pearl. All her life from then onwards, she could see. She wasn't free. She was... trapped. Was this her destiny?

 _THIS ISN'T FAIR! I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HELP ME. I'M GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOU! ALL. OF._ YOU _. I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU_ SUFFER _._

"Indeed, you can." a chilling voice told her.

 _What?_

Lapis turned, finding a tall, yellow woman, smirking at her.

 _Who the hell are... Am I... Oh... I remember... my revenge, then... well, that was an... interesting episode. I had forgotten..._ Steven _._

The background shifted. Instead of whatever she knew of Pearl, it was filled with a baby boy, growing up. Smiling at her. She could see herself carrying him around, until he was too big for her arms, and he followed her instead.

 _Anyway, who're_ you _supposed to be? Oh, wait, lemme' guess—_

"My name, as you might've guessed, is Amber." the yellow woman introduced herself, bowing with arms behind her back. She looked like a goddess of humans, instead of a Gem.

 _That's... Oh, you're the... Well... You look like an Earthling—No! More like a person they worship._

"I've chosen to look like one." Amber pursed her lips. "It's much more interesting to manipulate this way. Plus, since I'm more humane—well, at least, _look_ —I get more people's attention, and they'll listen to me, and they don't care what I look because I look like them."

 _Thanks for telling me your plan._

"That doesn't matter. At all. Those were all small details. Just for my scheme. Keep up your hatred against the Gems. Ironic that you hate all Gems but still choose to freeze them instead of poofing them. From what I see, you had your body frozen and you hated that. Then why freeze the other Rogue Gems? Are you just deluding yourself to thinking it was better that way, ignoring your past? Or was it on purpose?" Amber asked, glancing to the side.

 _That's up for debate._

"Funny. It's a good distraction for whatever I have planned." she informed. "Speaking of which, is... world-extinction-domination, not sure which one I'd pick. One would be efficient, the other would be fun. Both would still lead to the end of humanity. Either they evolve, or... global extinction."

 _And you're telling me this, why?_

"Because, you'd be a nice asset to have." Amber stated, "You possess all this rage, all this hate, power... patience. Intelligence. You use all that to cause harm to only a handful of people. _Only_ them. You're a cold, sadistic bastard. You're just like me. Except with a more cruel upbringing and humungous grudge against every other Gem. Um, sorry, I mean, I'm just like you. We're similar. That's the main point. I'd like to have you on my turf."

 _Like hell I would join you. You know I hate everyone of our kind. Why bother asking?_

Amber cackled, "Just the answer I was looking forward to. You never trust other Gems, do you? It's a nice ideology. They're full of disappointments, am I right? See you soon, Lazuli. I hope to see how you're gonna keep your peace."

 _What?_

"Just keep planning the Crystal Gems' demise." Amber pointed to the side.

Lapis looked over, and saw a frozen frame of Steven holding her. Then, he faded away. Instead, a beaten and worn down looking Rose Quartz was replaced, standing in a pile of ashes and flames. Gems were raining, some cracked, others only shards. The sky was blood red, and the look in Rose's eyes... pure hatred. Lapis felt herself burn from her gaze, and looked back, to find Amber gone.

 _What was she trying to do here?_

Lapis stared at Rose for awhile. Then, it felt like Rose was _actually_ glaring at her. And she realized she never saw this before. This wasn't in her memory, nor was it in Pearl's. Then, what did this mean?

She then saw the Gem that was lying on the ground.

On it, she could see her reflection. So, Rose was fighting... her? Okay. That didn't answer... No. Wait.

 _Steven's destiny... is to become Rose Quartz. By that, he would need to... no..._ _please no... He wouldn't... Of course, he wouldn't! What am I thinking! Amber's just trying to... well, better word would be corrupt, but to spite her, I'd say she's trying to_ manipulate _me!_

* * *

Spinel finally arrived at the abandoned castle, where he could only hear nature.

A few steps into the concrete building, he jumped inside through the broken ceiling and ended up in front of the throne. The daylight was seeping through the hole and shining onto the gray floors and walls. Nobody was sitting there. It was weird, because he swore he could feel something being projected there. It was energy. Pure, raw energy.

He turned around, sweeping his feet over the carpets. Spinel looked around, trying to find anyone in the empty castle.

"Hematite? Emerald?" he called, voice echoing in the daylight. It was daytime, because it was on another part of the planet.

As if on cue, a bulky rock creature walked through the entrance, greeting the crimson Gem. Red pulsing lava coursed through his veins, his pure yellow eyes spotted him and gave him a nod. "Hello, Spinel. Good to see you here."

"Oh. Where's Emerald? Or, what's happening around here?" Spinel asked, raising a brow. This was his first time here, and he didn't know what to do.

"Emerald is doing a task for Amber. He's infiltrating a secret base and retrieving a nuke." Hematite informed casually, uncharacteristically shrugging. "As for the whereabouts of Amber, she's outside, preparing a... "light show" as she calls it. And the rest of her army is settling underground, preparing themselves for what she had planned."

"She has an _army_?" he asked in disbelief.

"They are mindless Gems." Hematite replied. "Amber had infiltrated the Crystal Gems' base while getting us out of corruption."

"She... controls them?" Spinel asked, trying to figure it out.

CREAAK! A tall, yellow figure, towering even Hematite, walked into the throne room. "Yes. I control them. I like it better this way." Amber informed, staring at Spinel. She looked over at the black Gem, who was now her army's commander. "Where's Emerald?"

"He is still gone." Hematite bowed, going on one knee.

"Wait. Why do you control them? Isn't it taxing?" Spinel questioned, finally able to meet his savior. To be honest, he wasn't expecting her to be that tall, and it was frightening in a way. It felt like she could just trample him without noticing.

"It's not... control. It's more... _influence_." Amber answered calmly, not really caring that she had answered the same questions for Hematite and Emerald beforehand. She was patient. All of this would pay off soon. She went over to her throne and took a seat. "I corrupt their thoughts. And they are to do what I tell them to do. They have no idea why they're doing as I speak, but it's mostly because they don't remember their original programming."

"They don't remember?"

"Oh, no, they don't. After being corrupted for so long, turning them back is like resetting a person. They don't recall anything. Instead, it goes to me. But, giving them their memories would be... _agonizing_." she informed.

"But you gave ours. At least, some part." Spinel stated.

"It was an experiment. I wanted to test the waters. Turns out I'm not going to swim. I'm just going to set sail on a ship."

* * *

Steven set Lapis on the couch, taking the burned leather jacket off, and putting it over her, like a blanket. He sighed as the hole didn't seem to help that much. The demigem left her there to rest, as he sat on a recliner that was left side of the sofa. He had to think, what was he gonna do next? Would he return to going to school? That would be much more peaceful. But, what about the Gems? Or that monster Lapis was telling him? What about it? Would it just... go away? Will the Crystal Gems handle it?

Perry entered the living room, sitting on a chair beside Steven. "You guys got beaten up?" she asked.

"Uh. Yes." Steven replied. He took a moment to think. "Well, actually, I didn't get beaten up. It was more my mom that did."

"That must be painful." she remarked, glancing at the blue woman with a rare skin disease. The mom didn't seem to have any of the human blood on her, so maybe she was just tired and didn't get hurt from the beating.

Steven looked around, admiring the place. He liked the warm and welcome atmosphere the room was giving. There were lime green walls, a bookshelf for people to read, a living room table for anything you wanted to put, and a television that was opposite the couch. The wooden floorboards felt natural to stand on, but was overshadowed by the carpets. It was a nice living space. Where were her parents anyway?

"Hey, Perry. Your house looks nice." he remarked, relaxing as the television played a video of a fireplace crackling. (James had suggested it to Peridot when visitors came around.)

"It took me a day to set it up." Perry informed.

"You? By yourself?" Steven asked, raising a brow.

Seeing his reaction, she cautiously replied, "Yes. But I had some outside help if that's what you mean."

"You live alone?" he inquired.

"Doesn't... everyone?" she said.

"Yeah... but not for ten year-olds." Steven answered.

Perry didn't respond after that. The rest of the hour was full of silence, the two of them just sitting around and taking this time to rest. It was only until the grandfather clock in the room struck eleven, that Perry decided to pop a question.

"Why weren't you at school today?" she asked. "The Connie and I tried to look for you yesterday, but you weren't there."

Steven started to sweat, knowing he had to change the topic. "How's your recorder practice?"

"Well... the wind instrument is a setback. The school is crazy to implement this in the classes and the examinations." she ranted, unaware of what Steven did. Well, Steven also didn't know he had influential properties in his voice, so even _he_ was unaware of what he did. "What if I don't want to play an instrument? What then? The curriculum is a disgrace. We should pick our own lessons."

"I hear we're able to do that later on." Steven informed.

"Why not now?" she asked.

"I don't think any kid would be responsible enough for that decision." the boy answered.

"Do the adults think they have _all_ the power?" Perry stated, "They're delusional to think that. The students of the school are rebelling, and the adults don't look like they're holding that power anymore."

"I'm glad we had this talk, Perry." Steven replied miserably. "I feel better already."

"Are you telling a lie?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Steven blankly stared at the ground. "Yes."

"Then you're violating the friendship agreement." Perry stated, mildly angry. "I will reprimand you by not being your friend for the next five minutes."

"Go ahead. It'll give me time to think." Steven replied.

"Yes, maybe I will!" Perry retorted, crossing her arms and pouting at the other direction.

 _What am I supposed to do?_ Steven thought. _If Lapis is... broken... how am I able to get through with this? Who would be my Lapis? Or maybe, I could do this by myself. I'll be independent, just like how Perry did with herself. She seems to have it all worked out for her. But what about the Crystal Gems? It's just... I don't hate them... I just despise. Not for Amethyst, she's cool. But for the white one. She's not nice. What would I do if I meet them again? Or what about the evil monster? What about all those Gems?!_

The demigem had fallen into a worrying hole, or the paranoia black hole, where all he could do was worry about the future. Perry noticed, and grew perplexed about the situation. She was worried about him. But he still had to face the punishment for lying to her.

The room didn't seem to change as time went by, Steven was contemplating, Lapis was still unconscious, and Peridot forgot about the five minute deal. She went over to go record a report about human conversations on a memory file, but she heard the tap in the kitchen dripping water. The sound annoyed her. Perry went to the kitchen and twisted the knob, which was already closed shut.

"What?" she mumbled, seeing the water still leak. "Human tech is too primitive to glitch. It's using rudimentary laws, why is it not working?"

Steven shifted his position in his seat, and looked up at the crackling fireplace in the television. The video was starting to malfunction, showing static and blurs. It wasn't even on a signal, it was just replaying a video of a fireplace.

"Perry?" Steven called, glancing at the kitchen. "What's happening?"

"I don't know. The tap thingy is dripping water." Perry replied, walking into the living room.

"Well, what about the bathroom?" Steven asked. This caused Perry to raise a cheek.

"Bathroom? You mean the place where people clean themselves and get rid of their bodily waste?" she asked.

"Yes. That's..." He stopped mid-sentence. "Why do you not get that?" he asked worriedly.

FWIIISHH! The taps and pipes exploded, and little drops of water formed out of the air. Lapis' eyes snapped open, and all the water dropped back to the ground, splashing everywhere and ruining the carpet. The ocean Gem blinked, her reflective eyes were not normal, causing Peridot to get the idea that the woman wasn't a human. Lapis rubbed her head, still not used to gravity at the moment, and grasped at her burned jacket.

"L-Lapis?" Steven rushed to her side, his hair was a little bit wet, and his clothes had dark patches on them. "Are you okay?" he asked, before answering himself. "No, you're... you're still " _cracked_ "."

" _Cracked_?" Peridot's eyes widened, recognizing the term. She pointed at Lapis. "You're a _Gem_?!"

"Shhh!" Steven shushed at her, before returning to his mom.

"It... hurts." Lapis said, putting her head into her hands. "Other than that, I'm... _fine_. You just need to get your saliva on my Gem."

"What?"

"It sounds weird. But, you can heal things with your spit." Lapis stated.

"Oh, I already know that. Just... not used to things." Steven informed.

" _YOU'RE_ A GEM TOO?!" Peridot screeched, pointing at the demigem.

"Perry, calm down." Steven replied, "What does me and Lapis being Gems have to do with you needing to yell about it?"

"Because she's also a Gem." Lapis informed, rubbing her eyes. She didn't like the cold texture of her eyes. "Isn't that right, Peridot?"

" _Peridot_?" Steven repeated, "Perry... _Dott_. Peridot. Ohhh, I get it." He then realized the weight of this information. "Wait, you're a Gem? Well, in hindsight, it _would_ explain a lot of things."

"H-How'd you..." Peridot stuttered. "How'd you find out? How're you both Gems? Well, the mom is obvious, but Steven's _human_! This is so frustratingly hard to understand... Wait, out of everywhere in the world, I manage to land with two Gems?! What the _clod_!"

"I'm not a Gem. I'm half Gem." Steven informed.

"Half Gem? What? Is it cut in half? Are you a hybrid?" Peridot started tugging at her hair, chuckling crazily. "The probability of you being a perfect hybrid creation is... almost impossible on a first try. You're an abomination to biology and history!"

"Wait, you're a Gem!" Steven realized once again. He looked at Lapis, pointing at the green technician. "We can use her as part of our team! It'll be _awesome_! We don't need the Crystal Gems' help this way!"

Lapis winced at the group's name. "Steven, just heal me."

"Oh. Yes, that part. Um." Steven licked the palm of his mouth, getting as much magic saliva out, before running over to the back of the couch, and placing his hand on Lapis' cracked Gem. He let go, and the crack sealed itself with the liquid substance. "There! Good as new! Right?"

Lapis audibly sighed in relief, her eyes retaining the natural look. "Okay... Yeah, it's _definitely_ fine now."

Steven hobbled over excitedly to Peridot. "So, do you want to help us fight an evil monster and his army?"

"What... I just... I'm not..." Peridot finally paused, before revealing what she actually was. "I'm the spy from Homeworld."

"You're the spy from homeworld? What's homeworld?" Steven asked.

"I already told you last time." Lapis replied, putting on her useless leather jacket.

"Oh, it's like... a Gem planet, right?" Steven guessed.

"Yes." Peridot answered honestly, shutting her eyes and waiting for one of them to snap at her. She waited for a moment, thinking it was the end of her career, before peeking with one eye, to see Steven's confused face. She looked around, noticing that Lapis was straightening her jacket, not acknowledging her. "Wait, so... you guys... you're... not gonna poof me? After what I told you?"

"No. Why? You're my friend." the demigem replied. He then got starry-eyed. "Can you join our group to help save the world?"

"Uh... no." Peridot said. "I still have my duties. Which you already know as "spying and researching about the planet Earth"."

"What could you do anyway?" Lapis shrugged. She admired Steven's trait to be cheered up easily. All the dark things he went through was gone in a blink of an eye. But, it wouldn't be gone for long. The thought of him wanting Peridot to help them was intriguing, but Lapis didn't see the effectiveness in that. "You don't seem to be the type who would be able to fight."

Peridot looked the blue Gem up and down. "Who are you again?"

"I'm Lapis Lazuli." she responded.

The answer only made Peridot more befuddled. "How do you have a physical form?"

"I'm just better." Lapis answered, trying to shrug off the fact that she knew what Peridot was talking about. Lapis Lazuli were useless because Homeworld didn't have any water, thus automatically went to being used as batteries to power things. The only one to have her potential realized, is... well, Lapis Lazuli.

"Where's Rose Quartz?" Peridot inquired, seeing this chance to question everything and get a well of answers from these two. They were responsive to her questions, and seemed to be honest about it. So why not?

"My mother?" Steven responded.

"Isn't that Lapis Lazuli?" Peridot asked.

"No, that's just pretend." he stated. "It was to cover up stuff."

"So, your _real_ mother is... Rose Quartz." she narrowed her eyes, unable to believe him, since there was no evidence to it. Anything else, yes, but the wide assumption that Rose would be his "mother", no. That would be absurd. "Then, where is she?" the green Gem asked.

"She's gone." Steven answered sadly.

"Ridiculous. I sensed her power on my radar one Earth "week" ago!" Peridot replied.

Steven lifted his shirt, revealing a pink quartz. "Yeah, her powers are getting activated by me recently."

"Y-YOU?!" Peridot took a step back, stunned once again from newly gained information. Well, for her at least. Then again, it would make sense that he would be Rose's son. " _You_ possess the Rose Quartz Gem!?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Then I need to put this down on a memory unit somewhere." Peridot was going to rush to the second floor, when water sprouted from the wet floor and caught her in a bubble. "HEY! What did I do? We were on non-hostile agreements just now!"

Lapis glared at the green Gem. "You will _not_ put any notes of Steven's real biology. I know this will get sent to Yellow Diamond, and I know that if she learns about this, she will personally take a visit and _finish_ what she started. So, if you care, I advise you to stop doing what you're doing, and maybe add some other information about Earth instead."

Peridot glanced at Steven, and gulped.

Seeing as she was still trapped, Peridot asked, "Can you let go now?"

"I would. But I've been thinking about what Steven said. You're a Gem, and you're also chosen by Yellow Diamond herself if you came here _alone_. You have something the other Gems don't. So, I wonder what makes you so special unlike the other Gems? Maybe, you're actually useful." Lapis explained.

"Yes, I _am_ useful! That's why I'm assigned this mission the first place!" Peridot replied, like it was an obvious thing.

"That's what I just said. So, I want to have Yellow Diamond's best Gem to help me finish this new threat on Earth. She is a Gem called _Amber_ , she corrupts things—"

"Corrupts?"

"—and has an army of fallen Gems from the War. Do you think you have the abilities to help us in some way?" Behind Lapis, Steven was getting excited at the thought of Peridot helping him defeat the monster known as Amber.

"If I comply, will I get out of this trap?" Peridot asked.

Lapis nodded.

"Then I will do what I can." Peridot answered.

The ocean Gem released her, and let the water splash around the wooden floor.

"Yay! Peridot's a part of this team!" Steven exclaimed, hugging the green Gem. Peridot was not used to this, since Steven never gave any signs of wanting to be friends with her in the first place. And now, there was a big jump from acquaintance to teammate, plus she didn't know what he was doing to her. "But how're you supposed to help?"

"I have my limb enhancers." Peridot answered, stretching her arms around to help circulate her energy to her numbing arms.

"What are those?" Steven asked, furrowing his brows.

"They're my tools. Or weapons. Or my screen. Or my literal limb enhancers. They can be anything I want them to be that's in the quota I built them for." Peridot answered. She flicked her wrist, and a cylindrical object blasted itself through the ceiling and attached itself onto her arm. Steven and Lapis had tensed up, thinking it was some kind of Gem that crashed out of the roof. Smirkin to herself, Peridot showcased her robotic limb by making it flash colours. "I _know_. It's magnificent, isn't it?"

"Well, that manuever that you did to make the thing go to you was kinda like—" the demigem was interrupted by Peridot.

"Do _not_ finish that. It's my idea." the green Gem insisted. "Mine."

Lapis, not knowing what they were talking about, just shrugged it off. "Welcome to our team. I guess."

"TEAM HEROIC GEMS!"

"That's rather exaggerating."

"What about Ultimate Squad?"

"That's exaggerating too."

"Well then, what about... TEAM _GEM SQUAD_!"

"Has a ring to it."

"I don't know."

"TEAM GEM SQUAD IT IS!"

* * *

 **A/N: Another 5k word chapter! And it's now taking the longest chapter spot! Winning by only, what, ten/twenty words? You're welcome! Well, I guess all of you did pay for it. I mean, those were a lot of reviews asking for more... so, I guess, you affected it in some way. So, yay for you guys?**

 **(somewhere in Antarctica) YAAAAYYYY!**

 **Actually, it was because I had this in my planning, and my brain was just filled with ideas and... the characters were talking and the scene was playing in my head, so I had to type quickly to not waste any precious brain juice. So if you're asking for more, it might not create a new chapter with a large amount of words to entertain you.**

 **But my plan-summary for the next chapter has a lot of words in it. So, you're in luck?**

 **Anyways, I've been holding this chapter out for a** _ **day**_ **. And you're probably wondering why I did this.** (To torture us? To make us wait? Dang it, CV, you know the SU hiatus won't help! Your cliffhangers are everywhere!) **It was because when I had it finished, all the dialogue looked like it was just bland script stuff. So, I tried to add some flare into it and put some more thought into why they say things. And blah blah blah, characteristics, story continuity...**

 **Then, the group name thingy, I am not creative in creating names. So, Heroic Gems was made up on the spot like Steven blurted it. Ultimate Squad was just some poking at the reviews when _someone_ mentioned how they'd be the ultimate squad, but not naming it. Then I settled with Gem Squad because you know. IMAGINATION.**

 **Well then, why don't we host a competition? Who can make the best group name—Actually no, that's a terrible idea. I'm sticking to it because I'm already writing the next chapter. It starts off with some banter between two unlikely Gems. That's all I have to say.**

 **And the cracked Gem situation with Lapis was... I just imagined it like that. Different Gems getting themselves cracked have different responses. As shown in the show, Amethyst was glitching out, but Lapis only had mirror eyes.**

 **And, if you want, you can guess where the characteristics of Amber came from.**

 **And, if you care, I actually put a Centipeedle reference last chapter. It was subtle, and how I imagined her to be a Gem. I called her "the green Gem with white hair". She fought Steven, who pushed her so he could calm Lapis down, and then Lapis froze her.**

 **Wow, this Author's Note is long. Heh, maybe it'll be it's own thing for the rest of the story. Like, a brain fart of relief to show what's going on in my head and stuff. Or not. I'm just... gonna have to keep it shorter.**

 **Breaking News: This is called the Safehouse because in my early stages of planning, this chapter was about Steven and Lapis hiding in Peridot's place. Instead, it was just Steven and Lapis crashing at Peridot's place. And, the house _is_ technically safe.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Public Announcement"**


	15. Chapter 14: Public Announcement

**A/N: (Cover changed)**

 **(stares for a while)**

 **I miss the old cover already.**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 14: _Public Announcement_**

* * *

The next day...

Hematite and Emerald were sitting outside the castle.

"So, do you ever notice how weird Amber's requests are going?" the lime one asked.

"No." the rocky one answered.

"I mean, I had to steal an experimental nuke from a secret society that nobody knew existed."

"That is weird how she knows that there was a secret society."

"Then she gets a few Gems and uses them as her scientists."

"Odd, they still have their intellect."

"Then, she asks you to do an experiment to get hit with a _smaller_ scale version of the nuke and see if you can verify if the energy inside "the big one" could _potentially_ destroy all the inhabitants of Earth."

"That was a strange experience."

"Goes to show how much she prepared. Crazy, isn't it?"

"Crazy indeed."

"And she chose us out of the few hundred others."

"Hmm..."

"..."

"..."

"Hey. What's "Spinel, the _male_ " doing now?" Emerald asked.

"I recall Amber telling him to go look into the Kindergarten."

"Isn't that the place where Gems are made?"

"Indeed." Hematite answered.

"Cool... What's he doing there?"

"Amber says we need more troops."

"So... Spinel is going to lay eggs there, or what?"

"I do not know."

"I'm thinking he's laying eggs there."

"I do not think he could do that."

"Preeetty sure he's going to lay eggs and have Spinel Juniors or something."

"This conversation is over."

"You are one _boring_ , but _interesting_ , rock guy."

"I do not know why I bother talking to you."

"Because I'm awesome."

"You are definitely not."

"I'm fast."

"Well, if that is the case, you seem sluggish in my perspective."

"Oh, because I have to slow down for you meatbags."

"Did you just call me a "meatbag"?"

"Oh, yeah, you're... you're a Gem. Hah."

"Who have you been talking with that causes you think that I am a Gem?"

"I... This conversation is over."

The two ended their banter there and went back to the castle.

* * *

Pearl tried to put off the horrific thoughts.

 _He's just a child. He doesn't know anything. He doesn't even know what I've done to protect this world. He doesn't know what Rose had done! He has no right to call me a monster, I just cracked a Gem. We were all cracking Rogue Gems at the time! There's no wrong in doing that to Lapis, nor do I deserve to be called a "monster". I am not a monster! I'm a protector of the Earth! I'm its Knight! Not a_ monster _!_

She reassured herself continuously, but it wasn't working. She felt too incompetent and weak to have her words feel justified, and strong, to keep her spirits up. The more she thought about it, the more she sunk into depression. It was Rose's son for crying out loud! And he called her a monster for something she had done! And it... sounded like something _Rose_ would say!

She just couldn't help but feel terrible for it.

Not for cracking Lapis' Gem of course. Ruby would've done it. Amethyst would've done it. So, if she cracked it, what's the difference? It was inevitable, and she was only doing it because everyone on her team wanted to. Right? She was only miserable for making Steven cry like that, and to the point he would call her a _monster_...

Pearl couldn't stop pacing in her room.

It was then that she heard a signal calling her.

"Oh." she said tiredly, tapping her Gem and envisioning a hologram. It was a live video feed of the Revolution's commander: Jake Samson. "What's the matter, Commander Samson?"

"Knight, we have... a problem." the commander stated.

"Yes, the world is still infested with Rogues of my kind. I'm sorry for that." Pearl bowed her head down, feeling ashamed and guilty for the Beach City invasion event. At the moment, there was a crowd of humans by the Crystal Temple, rioting against them.

"No. It's something else." Jake replied gruffly, the weight of this information a little bit too much to handle. Because this information was enough to destroy the lands of the Earth and start a new species. He swallowed a mouthful of stress, and tried to calmly inform her of the situation. "Project Restart has been stolen."

"Project Restart!?" Pearl gasped. Inwardly, she was screaming at how much crap had hit the fan.

Jake nodded grimly. "Yes. I'm afraid... someone in the world has the power to wipe out humanity with a single press of a button."

"I-I don't think a human could steal from the Revolution." Pearl replied, trying to be strong when her brain was filled with countless thoughts of destruction and insults. "It's either a Gem or a human traitor."

"Yes. A team of experts have found something from the security footage." Jake sent a slow motion video of a green blur. "Do you think you have any idea what this is? This green blur is exceeding the fastest cameras in the world. The shutter speed on them could easily take a picture of a bullet being fired. But this thing is able to make them look like ancient technology."

Pearl thought for a moment, organizing her messy thought process. Then, she remembered the Gem that Ruby fought when the Rogues first appeared. "Emerald." she stated confidently.

"Do you know this "Emerald"?" Commander Samson asked.

"Yes. He attacked my friends and I when we were trying to... recover a missing artifact." Pearl lied.

"Well, then. Now we know it's a Gem." Jake sighed, a bit relieved that it wasn't a mere human that stole the weapon. If it was, then things would get even more complicated. He'd need to find the breach in security or the traitor. And it was complicating and stressing enough that the world is aware of the destructive properties of the Gems. "And these other Gems going public. I see you tried to clean it up. Well, I'll see what I can do to lessen the Beach City uproar."

"Thank you." she replied.

"This is Commander Samson, out." And the hologram dissipated.

Pearl took a deep breath, and dropped to her bottom and sat on the pillar of water. She tried to relax, assuring herself that everything was going to be fine, and that there was nothing to worry about. But then, that was a lie, there was Amber, the Rogue Gems, and Steven and Lapis to worry about. It was just like the war times, except Pearl didn't like this part of the War. She hated worrying about the descending future.

* * *

Spinel had approached Amber, having gone through his expedition in the Kindergarten.

The tall, yellow Gem was staring down at a small bomb, with a few other colorful Gems working on it. They had tools and resources piled up around them, and at least a dozen papers being pinned on the portable boards. Amber had towered over the scientists, being at least twice their size. It was menacing, because Spinel was only slightly taller than the other Gems, and he still felt tiny around her. Maybe it was her power over everyone.

The crimson Gem walked up to Amber, who unexpectedly turned around and leaned against the table that the Gem scientists were working on. Amber seemed to know that he was approaching her prior, since she looked really calm about it.

"Hello, Spinel." Amber greeted.

"Hey, Amber." the crimson Gem started awkwardly. "So, this extinction-level event... It's, uh... Well, never mind about that. That wasn't the thing I wanted to talk about. It's about..."

He pulled out a black Gem.

"...this." he gleamed, holding the gemstone out.

Amber stared at it, eyes widening at the cut and shine of the Gem. She could feel energy emanating from it, but it was silent. Holding information. It was a powerful artifact. She couldn't break through the metaphorical shield the Gem had, like it was a fusion. But, it was _not_. It did not consist of two Gems, nor were they mashed together, but instead it was just _one_ Gem. A singular Gem that had astonishing power that only fusions could achieve.

This Gem had the purpose of a war machine, only a purpose fusions were given. It was _very_ powerful. Possibly telekinetic, since Amber wasn't able to pry open the mental defenses like she did to some Gems. The other Gems freely expressed their opinions.

"I found this while I was in the Kindergarten. It was buried deep in the Earth's crust. And, locked in some kind of... super bubble." Spinel informed, handing the black Gemstone over to Amber so she could inspect it. "I think... the Crystal Gems trapped it there. I saw the Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire and Rose bubbles forged into one to trap it. It took me a while, but I managed to get through it."

 _Spinel is strong enough to crack through five Gems' fused bubble. Interesting. He has more potential than I thought._ Searching through her memory, or _others_ ' memories, she could only find speculations, theories and rumors. "There is a high chance it's name is Onyx." she stated, lifting the Gem to the sky so she could see it glint better.

"Onyx?" Spinel asked.

"Did you hear what I just said?" she retorted.

"Yes. Onyx. _This_ Gem?" He pointed at the black gemstone.

"Rarely this powerful... Very precious." A flash of insight displayed itself in Amber's mind, and she grinned at the new information she got from the Onyx Gem. She recoiled a bit, setting the vision in. "... _ah_. I want you to keep it." Amber said, giving it to Spinel.

Shocked, he was lost for words. All he could do was blurt out, "What?"

"Act as a failsafe. You know. Just in case things go south with me, I have you to continue my legacy." Amber replied nonchalantly, like she knew she was expecting that she was gonna fail. "I have many other plans set in motion. Just in case they were able to defeat me. But of course, this _is_ me, I like to show off. They might use that as an opening and kill me where I stand. Though I find that very hard to believe, there _is_ a chance. There will always be a possibility."

"You're planning this too far." Spinel stated. _She is a tall, paranoid psychopath._ He thought. "How could the opposing Gems stop us from setting off a nuke to destroy the civilization of its population?"

"There are _chances_ —oh, for stars' sake, didn't you hear what I just said? I'm starting to think you're deaf." Amber reminisced the Gems' memories she stole, and that of Onyx. "To put a long story short, I've learned from many, _many_ Gems that it's always good to have insurance. Do you get it now?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Good. _Now_... According to the Sun," she looked up, "it is time for me to make a... _public announcement_."

* * *

"Peridot. Could you find out where Amber is hiding?" Steven asked politely. He was sitting on Lapis' lap. The blue Gem did it on a motherly instinct and hugged him by the waist, since he was always comfortable with hugs. She knew that because he keeps hugging her as a baby till now. Also, she had a... _bad_ time while she was cracked, so it was nice having her reality check close to her.

"I could locate frequencies and radiation signals, but there isn't any other Gem energy other than a Pearl, an Amethyst, a Ruby and a Sapphire. Which, to my research, are part of the Crystal Gems. You don't like them from what I can tell." Peridot informed. "And then there's you guys, and me. Everyone _else_ , is blocked by another energy. Like, the energy waves are mingling together and forming a frequency that's close to neutral, hiding them from my locator."

"This means we'll have to find out by ourselves." Lapis stated, patting the boy on his fluffy hair.

"That's gonna be fun, right?" Steven asked.

"Not exactly." Lapis answered. "I... like to think... Amber is an egomaniac, since she talks too much and reveals all kinds of information about herself that she deems unimportant. So, she _might_ have a base of operations somewhere that's flashy or... is a really popular landmark. She's a showman, she wants to give the best presentations and would probably make a giant speech about something. I'm sure she could ramble on about the rareness of a tea cup."

"So?" Peridot inquired.

Lapis opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came to mind. "I don't know."

"Well, looks like that's all the help I can give you people." the green Gem stated sarcastically, dusting her hands. She glanced at Lapis, who was glaring at her. "I'm-I'm _joking_! I'm just kidding. You know? Humorous intentions? Being funny?" When there was no sign of change on Lapis' face, Peridot stammered. "W-We can use the warp pad, t-to lessen the time it takes to get to places. That's all I can, uh, _advocate_!"

"Advocate?" Steven scrunched his nose at the word.

Lapis sighed.

* * *

Amber started the plan.

It was simple: terrorize the most populated area, and take control over the media with facts about humanity. That would certainly get the enemy Gems' attention, they would come over to the place and Amber could erase them from being problems. She was going to corrupt them, turning them into animals that "evolved" from millions of years ago. And of course, these _evolved_ animals would be the small creatures that roam the planet now.

"This will be fun." she remarked.

Her Gem scientists have activated an inoperative warp pad, so that they could all warp to the nearest warp pad in the trending area, and make their stand there.

Amber and her army were going through the warp, taking them to the city, group by group. They set up their plans there, once in a while a group would dispatch from the army on Amber's orders. They would all make a perimeter around the city, making sure they had full control over the land. Amber commanded the strongest fleet, the Quartzes, to destroy the warp pad once finished with trooping. If the need to retreat ever came around, the scientists had that covered with the new use of pocket dimensions.

"Everything seems to be in order." Amber remarked, staring out in the open and seeing small glints in the horizon, signalling to her that the perimeter had been secured. She left Spinel, Hematite and Emerald back, because of her paranoia.

By noon, they would attack, and hopefully, it would be a busy day.

Amber checked the sun to see if it was the correct time, before sending her army forth. The Gems had little to no problem with rushing down the mountain and into the city, surprising many humans and causing mass chaos. The Rogue Nation had stormed the entire city, from all corners, and started disrupting parades this city kept creating. The crowds went distraught, screaming in terror and running for cover. Cameras all around started taping the event.

Amber smirked at her army's handiwork, watching the cried of millions of people. They were taking control of the whole city, all for the purpose of public attention. That, and of course, to clear out space for the Crystal Gems. This city would be where everything officially started. When humans realize the potential of alien threats, and the knowledge that it was too late. They couldn't stop them. They were just weak earthlings, they were nothing special.

Amber walked through the city of chaos, watching as this popular city turned into the wreckage of war. She could see from the corners of her eyes, the pathetic humans trying to fight back. But of course, their weapons were no match for a Gems' toughness, they would die before a scratch would even form. Amber walked towards the center of the city, a few Gems walking by her side. There were Rubies, Amethysts, Jaspers, Quartzes... and a poor, corrupted Cyanite.

"Yes, yes... Good." Amber nodded at their work, destroying vehicles and taking down towers. "Splendid! _This_ is a work of art!" She twirled, staring up into the sky as buildings began to fall to the ground, the screams of the inhabitants went silent as the tower perished. "These people feel the absence of hope... hehe." she chuckled, glancing at her Gem soldiers. "Did I get the whole world's attention yet?"

"Amber, do you mean the invention these humans call "cameras" to broadcast frequencies around the world?" a Peridot asked.

"Not really the correct definition, but yes." Amber replied, watching a fleet of Gems march their way towards the video cameras and showed footage of the tall, yellow Gem. "Am I in the picture?" she muttered, looking around and finding an electronic store with the televisions playing live feed of her. "Well then, I guess I am."

Amber walked to the center of the parade, seeing the remains of balloons and colored paper, and the pleading screams from everywhere. Fire could be seen along with rubble and debris.

"Are you seeing this? All of you?"

* * *

"Commander Samson."

"Yes?"

"The Gem army has hit _Kronos Quad_."

"The city?"

A nod.

"Dear lord..."

* * *

Amethyst and Ruby couldn't bear going into the Crystal Temple, which was filled with angry people raging at them, and stayed out in the coasts of Keystone. They were in a diner, with Ruby sitting impatiently and quietly while Amethyst had a plate of food in front of her. She didn't even touch it.

Then, screams were heard.

Amethyst and Ruby snapped their heads up in alarm, and found the sound to be coming from the television in the corner of the diner. They could see a destroyed city, with one yellow person visible, unnaturally tall. Then, they heard the words.

 _"Are you seeing this? All of you?"_

* * *

 _"Are you seeing this? All of you?"_

"What was that?" Steven asked.

"I was searching up for news of Gem activity." Peridot informed, tapping on the screen of her limb enhancer. She pressed a button, and the television started playing a channel showing a yellow woman. "This is from one frequency..." The screen flickered, showing another angle of the woman. "...This is from another..." It flickered again, shifting through various channels, only for it to display different angles of the Gem. "And another, and another, and another..."

" _Amber_." Lapis seethed, fist clenching.

"That's her?" Steven asked. "She looks like a Greek goddess."

"A what goddess?" Peridot repeated.

 _"I'm going to introduce myself to all of you_ people _watching this. My name is_ Amber _. And as you all heard, Kronos Quad is under attack by Gems. Big surprise. The same Gems that attacked Beach City yesterday._ I _am their leader. The tall, yellow woman you're watching from all different channels. Go on, switch the channel, I'm bound to be_ there _."_

"What's Kronos Quad?" Peridot asked.

"A city." Lapis answered. "A popular hotspot for crowds. Millions of humans gather there."

"For what reasons?" Peridot asked again.

The ocean Gem sighed, "A very stupid one: entertainment. And then there's the tallest mountain right beside it."

 _"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why I've caused such a_ disaster _to your peace. Well, not really_ peace _. You humans are a disgusting bunch, thinking you're the main center of the story. You caused war and chaos upon yourselves, a quicker pace wouldn't do anything at all. You were all destined to..._ end _. Humanity can't survive like this. With all the gunfighting, the experiments, terrorism, drug trades, black markets, slavery... So much chaos in the world. Why do you think you still deserve peace?"_

* * *

Pearl could see Amber from the back of her mind, almost like the yellow Gem had already taken control of her.

 _"You're warmongers."_

The white Gem scowled.

 _"You say you devote yourself to peace. But in reality, you're creating an end for yourself. You're creating war. Ultimately, you're destroying yourselves. And if you think different, what has history told? Wars of man, destruction to the world, anger and rage, hellbent on gaining power. It will all happen again. You know, the funny thing is, whatever species living on this giant rock, their destiny, is procreation. To create. To uphold their own group of living organisms. Instead, your kind has come up with this."_

 _What a hypocrite._ Pearl thought. _She says it like us Gems never had a war._

From the ground, a giant, missile-like device had tunneled its way beside Amber. She ran her hand over it, the touch of the metal was smooth.

 _"You've created the end of your kind. Human extinction. I present to you, the creation of this world's saviors, The Restart."_

* * *

 _"Now, what this does... is..."_ She snapped her fingers. _"...explode. This is a nuclear weapon, made to_ restart _Earth's population back from scratch. This is the failsafe your guardians have made if a war,_ so _out of proportion, ever happened on Earth. Because they knew, that the weapons humans already have, are enough to create a giant hole on the side of the planet. Enough to destroy an entire race. Enough to delete a continent from ever existing. Enough to eradicate all of your hope."_

Amber stared back at the camera.

 _"I'm just going to help all of you. You humans are worthless, unable to evolve into a better and unified group. You don't have harmony with each other. You can't maintain peace between yourselves."_

Ruby narrowed her eyes at it.

 _"You follow blind leaders. People who say they would help you and bring you to the light. And what do they actually give you? Nothing that will help towards your destiny. They get all the power, because they're delusional. Thinking they have everything in the palm of their hands."_

Amethyst looked down at herself.

 _"Humans are destined to fall. You're destined to die like your ancestors. Even after billions of years of evolution, you can't seem to change your ways. So, I'm going to use this weapon to destroy humanity. To help end your suffering. To help the universe make space for the better species. And if you can prove that you can evolve to... at least become a better and more powerful, unified management... then we can talk about blowing up the entire planet."_

* * *

 _"And if you think this bomb is... fake. And we're just scaring you. I'm going to make a demonstration. Apart from the city we have just destroyed, we'll show you what destructive properties a smaller, weaker version of this bomb, that your "government" made, could do."_

Lapis gritted her teeth. Peridot stared at the screen boredly, since it didn't concern her. She was a spy, taking notes on what's happened on Earth. And if this planet blew up, she could easily write down a report stating that it had self-destructed from its inhabitants. But, she would be losing her friend in the process. That would be sad.

 _"I believe you called this mountain the tallest mountain in the world."_ Amber informed, signalling towards the cliff. _"With one missile, it will_ vanish _."_ The Gem nodded at another Gem, who activated the smaller nuke. The bomb blasted off into the mountain, exploding and erasing the formation of the cliff and its surroundings. What was left was a plain crater that stretched over a country. The city got hit by it, causing a massive chunk of it to vaporize as well. _"What just happened is real. Look it up, stare out your window, check the satellite imaging, whatever. It happened."_

"That _bastard_." Lapis murmured.

"Uh, Lapis?" the boy sitting on her lap stared at her. "You... just said a bad word."

The blue Gem looked down at the child. "Oh, uh... sorry, Steven."

"We now know where this " _Amber_ " is hiding." Peridot stated. "What do we do now?"

"We have to disarm the bomb." Lapis said, standing up and setting Steven on the ground. "Without it, Amber won't be able to destroy the Earth, and all we have to do is defeat everyone in that city. We'll minimize damage like that."

"Uh, how do you disarm a bomb?" Steven asked, starting to get nervous. The three of them facing the entirety of Amber and her army. After seeing what she had accomplished, he was getting sensibly scared.

"We, uh..." Lapis stared at the green Gem. "...Peridot."

"What? I'm right here." she replied.

"Do you have _any_ expertise in disarming bombs?" she asked.

"I hope that question isn't satire. I can disarm the most advanced bomb in the universe. _But_ , I still need research in Earth bombs if that's what you're asking." Peridot informed, crossing her arms as a human trait she picked up.

"Alright. So, we at least have a base plan." Lapis said, pointing at Peridot. " _You_ will disarm the bomb, while _you_ ," she pointed at Steven, "and I are going to fend off against Amber's army. Once Peridot's done, she could join us and I'll somehow flood the city back into the ocean."

"Like that city called Atlantis!" Steven exclaimed.

Surprised by his enthusiasm, Lapis blinked at him. If anything, she thought the demigem would be silent. Hearing that a city got demolished by the same person you're gonna fight would be horrifying to anyone else on the planet. But Steven shrugged it off like it was something normal. He's much braver than she expected, or he might be incredibly dumb. But she wouldn't bet on the latter, she knew that he was smarter than he looked.

"Yeah, like... Atlantis."

* * *

 **A/N: So, I found out I listed this story as a "family/adventure". I felt conflicted. I changed it to "adventure", singular, because this isn't really a _family_ story. It has elements of that, plus drama, suspense, friendship, sci-fi, angst, tragedy, fantasy, humor, parody, mystery... It has a lot of aspects, it's hard to pick. So, I kinda... left it at... that... Wait a minute...**

 **This is a sci-fi. Crap, it's a sci-fi. Dang it, it's a _sci-fi_. How did I not realize that? These are SPACE ROCKS. It's written in their name! AAAAHHH—**

 **Well, I fixed it. This is now a sci-fi story. Congratulations, me, for not realizing what genre I write. I will applaud myself.**

 **As of now, this is a "sci-fi/adventure".**

 **In other news, we reached over a hundred reviews! Not many stories can come up to that. (Pause) I checked, there are 42 fics that have reached a milestone of a hundred reviews. (We're at no. 41 on the review list) I know, it sounds pretentious. And... other arrogant names.**

 **And an IMPORTANT note: Do _not_ follow Amber. She's the antagonist. She's misguided.**

 **Breaking News: This chapter comes from Amber doing a Public Announcement. There's... There's no hidden meaning to the titles recently. I... need to work on that.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Assuring The Inevitable"**


	16. Chapter 15: Assuring The Inevitable

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 15: _Assuring The Inevitable_**

* * *

"So, Peridot... you can fly?"

"Limb enhancers. So, no." the lime-colored Gem replied, flying side by side with Lapis. Her new limb enhancers had been upgraded, enabling her to charge energy upwards and cause her to rise. Propulsion technology. "If they hadn't destroyed the Warp Pad, we could've gotten there easily. But _nooo_ , they just had to do it."

"Well, it's called being tactical." Lapis informed, feeling like she was teaching a dumb adult. She was holding Steven in her arms, and felt uncomfortable because he said he didn't need a safety belt, which was a baby harness. "If they left it like that, it would be easier for us, which wouldn't be something they want."

"I _know_! I'm just complaining. What do you think I am? _Stupid_?" Peridot retorted.

Lapis, who was flapping her water wings to gain altitude, wanted to answer, but couldn't think of a response.

" _Wow_. You _actually_ _did_ think I was stupid." Peridot stated. She shook her head. "I have lost all hope."

"You're funny, Peridot." Steven remarked, smiling.

"Don't encourage her." Lapis advised sternly, her glare razor sharp.

"... _okay_." he replied meekly.

* * *

Amethyst contemplated at the Crystal Temple, which was being occupied by the amount of people in Beach City that hated them. Mostly because they were Gems, and the humans' thought process was to think that, _"since the Crystal Gems are Gems, they are on the same side."_ It sounded ridiculous to Amethyst, because that was the same problem humans had with racism. Humans thought that it didn't apply to space-alien rocks. Such a shame. She was glad Vidalia wasn't there.

The two Crystal Gems hid behind a bush, watching the riot from afar. "Well, good luck getting Pearl out of there." Ruby remarked. "I'm not doing it."

"What? But, you're supposed to help me!" Amethyst replied in a whispered tone.

"Yeah. I'll give you emotional support." Ruby then began chanting. "A-me- _thyst_! A-me- _thyst_! A-me- _thyst_!"

"Alright, alright." She pouted. "I'll do it myself."

Before they could do anything, a group of tailgating black cars drove into the Crystal Temple, alerting the riot. The crowd lowered their signs and pitchforks (Even though they don't farm.), and looked over at the government agents that were stepping out of the vehicle. The men in black suits wore shades, and were telling the crowd to go away. The group of humans didn't budge, since the end of the world was coming.

"Okay, what are _they_ doing here?!" Amethyst demanded. "If the government is going to arrest us for what we didn't do, then they've got another thing comin'."

"If that happens, I won't understand Rose's compliance with this world." Ruby declared.

Glancing at the automobiles the agents brought, Amethyst grinned, a scheme forming in her head. "Ruby, would you like to blow up some cars?"

"If it's to spite Pearl in the face, I'll do it." Ruby replied, forming a fireball in her hand.

Once they looked back, the rioters were heading toward the exit and the government agents were shutting down the place with police tape. The door in the Crystal Temple opened, revealing Pearl. She leaped out of the temple and came face to face with some of the government agents. And instead of telling them to back off like they expected, she was discussing with them.

"Okay, _what_?" Amethyst said.

"It looks like Pearl is talking to the government. _Peacefully_." Ruby informed, squinting at the scene. "Darn it, government. Why do you have to know we're the good guys? I could've watched the clear blue skies with the contrasting... red and... yellow... explosions..." she trailed away, not knowing where she got the words to form that sentence from.

"But, how? How does the government know it's not us?" Amethyst asked curiously.

"Why ask questions? Just roll with it like you always do." Ruby replied, walking out of the bush.

"It's just..." the purple Gem hesitated, "...never mind."

Amethyst and Ruby jogged from their hiding spot and walked towards Pearl. The government agents froze when they saw them, about to take their weapons, before realizing they were part of the Crystal Gems. They went back to their business, reporting to the higher-ups and putting police tape all over the fence gate. Pearl stiffened up when she saw them.

"Well, _you_ had a quick recovery." Ruby remarked with an uninterested tone. Inwardly, she was scared about her well-being. Wasn't she crying her heart out a day ago?

"Why _yes_ , I _am_ a _Pearl_ , after all." the white Gem answered awkwardly. Being proud of her title was hard to do, since they were servants, and telling it openly was like saying your job description out loud. The Gems didn't notice it and thought it was a regular thing. Well, Ruby knew, but she decided not to dwell on the past.

"So, you're working with the government now?" Amethyst asked.

Pearl glanced at the agent. "No."

Amethyst narrowed her eyes at her. Ruby spoke up, "Well, have you heard the news? We're going on a road trip! That Gem you stared at days ago isn't going to bubble herself." The red Gem then looked away, contemplating at whatever punishment they should give the Corrupter. "Or do we crack her? Nah, that would create more problems. Shatter her maybe?"

"Pearl. We're going." Amethyst stated straightforwardly.

"Okay, captain _frank_." Ruby retorted. "What made _my_ explanation so hard to understand?"

"I get it, you guys." Pearl replied, "We'll take the Warp Pad."

Without missing a beat, the trio ran over to the Warp Pad, standing there for a bit. They focused on warping to Kronos Quad, but it wasn't working.

"Wait, what about Sapphire?" Amethyst asked, looking at the blue Gem that sat on the floor.

"What _about_ Sapphire?" Ruby retorted.

"The warp to Kronos Quad isn't working." Pearl informed, "We'll need to pick another warp."

"Just pick the nearest."

"Uh... Sand Temple or Preliminary Fortress?"

* * *

The trio had dropped on a mountain near the city, and were looking at it from a high vantage point. If they needed to get to the bomb and end this quick, they had to be sneaky. Then, they'll burst out and kick butt.

"Woah... That looks... _destroyed_." Steven remarked silently.

Kronos Quad was just a wasteland with a giant crater right next to it. The buildings and towers had fallen, causing a public outcry on a global scale. The roads were silent and still, fires sprouting from the asphalt and vehicles either destroyed or flipped. Debris had hit the city _hard_ , the Rogue Nation had _really_ taken the town by storm. It was silent, and lonely. There didn't seem to be anyone alive by that point. It felt painful. You could really feel the sense of dread, the complete absence of hope.

Peridot started to feel scared. Looking it up close, she could feel... _death_. Real destruction. During her life on Homeworld, all she knew of the wars were from reading stories and detailed reports from real soldiers. She never knew what it felt like to see a real battlefield. And if they were going to go into it, it felt like they were only going to disrespect the non-living.

Lapis sighed at the thought of millions of lives _vanishing_. Their soul, their everything, taken away from them. The children, innocent, unable to grow up to become someone of their own. She couldn't help but imagine, how unstable the world had gone. How much of the human population went crazy after this? How many thought that nothing mattered in the world, and went haywire? How many wanted revenge?

This could actually mean the end of the world, and Steven could feel the pressure coming on to him. He gulped audibly, glancing at the two other Gems that he was going to fight with against what was most likely the end of the world. There's a nuke that's able to destroy the world, and an army of Gems they need to put down, and their leader, _Amber_.

"Are you ready?" Lapis asked, trying to sound upbeat. But the landscape kept their spirits down.

"No." Peridot answered.

Steven only nodded.

Lapis gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. The demigem took a deep breath, and felt his decision was made. There was a sense of peace. Clarity. It felt familiar to him. Only because, his mother had gone through this before. And now there were _three_. This was how it's gonna end.

"I'm _ready_." Steven declared.

Peridot stared at the two incredulously. " _Crazy_..." she said, shaking her head. She then muttered, "Alright. We're doing this. I'm going to take out the bomb, because _I'm_ the _smartest_ thing on the planet."

"Yes, you are." Steven reassured.

Somehow, it convinced Peridot, raising her confidence. "Thank you."

Lapis looked down at the broken city. Then back at her son and acquaintance.

"Let's go."

Lapis carried Steven by her arms, sliding down the mountain, while Peridot followed, taking out her screen and checking for heat signals and electromagnetic disruptions. Team Gem Squad was on the go, and halfway down, Lapis sprouted her water wings back and glided into the city. Peridot started to gently hover off the ground, pushing herself forward into the air with her limb enhancers.

There were Rogues guarding the perimeter, and luckily, they didn't spot them fly into the city.

The trio made it into Kronos Quad, stepping into the dusty city. The road was gray, and the buildings were all dark and void of artificial light. The power source was cut off during the attack, as could be seen with all the fallen utility poles. Occasionally, sparks went out from the wires, reminding the Gem Squad that this place was in ruins. There were buildings that landed on top of each other, leaning against one another, and placed like a bridge over a pair of shorter buildings by some of the bigger Gems.

Steven checked the stores for any remains of the humans. The Rogues must've cleaned up the place, since there was not a single person or corpse that could be seen. There were trails and cracks on the asphalt, and a few deep holes that trench out the road, like a track. He poked his ears to make sure they're working, because it was _dead_ quiet.

Peridot checked her screen, glancing back for anyone that spotted them, and returned to watching her digital map. It showed where the radiation of the nuke was concentrated at, so the bomb was near the center of the city. This place was big, with wide roads for parades and such. To get to the center, they would need to silently travel for half an hour before they get there. The technician lowered her arm enhancer, and watched the movements of her teammates.

Lapis, instead of looking at the scenery, focused on puddles and the water tanks. There was at least one giant, empty, tank of water they passed, and all that water had dripped to the sewers, which was underground. Lapis thought of lifting the entire city through sewer water, dumping it into the deep ocean and freezing it, then it would be done. But that would take a lot of effort, and there wasn't that much water to support an entire city to float at least five hundred feet into the air.

"It's so empty." Steven whispered.

Peridot walked in front of him, showing him her screen. In it, wrote, _"Don't talk. It's really quiet. Sound could be heard much easily here. You could be standing in the corner of this city and still hear a pin drop in the middle."_

The hybrid nodded. He then mouthed, "You're so cool."

The screen wrote, _"I know."_

Lapis stared at the two of them, feeling isolated.

Team Gem Squad walked for ten minutes, contemplating at the chilling air. It smelled of ash, something burned and hot, then a strange smell of copper. The further they were into the city, the more they felt like they were being watched, even though there wasn't anyone for the next five minutes. Peridot didn't sense any Gems on her radar. The sky was turning bluish-gray, and the only moving shadows were theirs. They could see the center of the city, which had a red stage, with golden ribbons and banners over it.

Steven tugged at Lapis' burned jacket. The ocean Gem looked down at him and he mouthed, "It's like a zombie apocalypse."

Lapis nodded, having nothing to say.

Peridot looked up at the building acting as a bridge for the two buildings across each other. It had a red tint to it, and some cracks, like it wasn't fully supported. She looked down and saw debris. To the opposite side, she could see a glass mall, with glass shattered everywhere, and its remains were on the floor. The advertisements and merchandise were still there, but who would want to go there anymore? The lime Gem looked back at her screen.

Steven felt his heart pumping through his chest with anxiety. He wasn't afraid, he could take this. He just didn't know if humanity would still be able to live with this afterwards. He was just nervous about the future. What if, after this, they would still blame the Gems that saved them? Steven, Lapis Lazuli and Peridot? What would they do then? Maybe, they could go to Homeworld, since Peridot lives there, and was only a spy here.

Yes, they could still live happily ever after, right?

* * *

Amethyst led the way after the Sand Temple, and reached the edge of Kronos Quad.

She felt awkward leading them, since she didn't know how to act while they were following her. Are they looking at her? Are they inspecting how she walks? Or are they looking somewhere else? She couldn't tell, because she was in front, and they were following her lead. She would glance back at times, and the other Gems would give the "What're _you_ looking at, huh?" look. And then sometimes, the "Don't you trust me?" look.

Amethyst put the thought away and let the visual of a broken city sink in.

The Crystal Gems looked up at the deserted city, all three having the same response towards the quietness. They all felt despair wash over them, like there was no hope in the world. They felt _failure_. Seeing this was like seeing a glimpse into the future, where they failed in protecting the world. They failed their promise to Rose. If they lost, there would be no stopping what's coming.

Who else would be able to stand up to these dangers after the Crystal Gems?

Ruby was the first to start walking into the city after their short break to contemplate at the scenery. Pearl stumbled on her first step, before regaining her composure and walking fine. Amethyst stayed for a little longer.

Was this what the world would look like if it were void of life? If the Kindergarten were to start right now, would this be what it would look like? If so, it looked pretty nasty and terrifying to Amethyst. This only took about three hours to finish, how quickly did they destroy everything? Where was everyone? Were all of them, _every_ _single_ _one_ , killed in this tragedy? Or were they in hiding? And what about the casualties? The ones who would drop dead on the ground? Did the Rogues pick them up and store them away?

That made no sense.

But then again, none of the Crystal Gems knew how much of a showman Amber was. Only Lapis and Pearl had witnessed her in a full conversation. Lapis remembered, but the fact didn't cross Pearl's mind.

The Crystal Gems entered the boundaries of the city, finding a few guards that were waiting at the edge. Ruby summoned her gauntlet, ready to punch, but Amethyst put a hand in front of her and shook her head. The red Gem raised a brow at her, noting her quietness.

"Why not?" she asked.

"These guards could alert their whole army. What we need to do is shatter Amber, since she's the main problem." Amethyst answered, using her limited knowledge of the yellow Gem. She had never seen her until that day, and only knew that she's able to corrupt and uncorrupt during the battle on the bridge. Anything else was just made up by her and clearly not factual, which was why she ignored her own thoughts.

"And she has manipulative powers." Pearl informed unexpectedly.

The two Gems stared at her. "Yeah. And... that." the purple Gem replied

"So, the plan is that we only focus on Amber and deal with the rest of her Gem army later?" Ruby inquired of Amethyst. "That would take another five thousand years! Even worse, they'd be working together because they know each other, rather than being mindless _animals_!"

"Hey! Hey," Amethyst repeated, her hand signalling to quiet down. "They could've heard you."

"Out here?" she asked, in a whispered tone.

"We're literally ten meters away from the city and standing out where they could see us." Amethyst informed, pointing at the city and the Rogue Gems.

"Not my fault." Ruby said.

"We're still out here because you were going to cause a ruckus and make us fight more Gems." Pearl stated. "All we need to do is destroy Amber, that's taking top priority. We'll deal with the Rogues later. Because the second priority is the _bomb_."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." the youngest Gem admitted.

"That brings me to another topic. Why would you talk to the Earth government so peacefully?" Ruby asked. "I mean, we heard that they were the ones who built that nuke in the first place."

Pearl stared at her in silence, occasionally blinking from time to time.

"They made the bomb?"

"Oh right, you were huddled up in your room." Ruby stated. "You weren't able to hear that so you got the abridged version when talking to the government, didn't you?"

"Yes," Pearl lied.

"That... actually makes sense. All you need to know is that the government lied to you." Ruby nodded. "We're done now. Right? We can proceed with the mission?"

"Yeah, be stealthy." Amethyst advised.

The red Gem rolled her eyes. "Like I don't already know that."

* * *

Minutes Later...

Steven quietly snuck through a mall, following Lapis and Peridot behind a marble pillar. The water-manipulator peeked from the pillar and saw the center of the city, the grand stage where Amber sat on. A red parade stage, with yellow ribbons and banners wrapped around it, and a throne for her to sit in. Beside her, was the nuke she had been talking about, which she rested her feet on. Surrounding the stage were Rogue Gems, guarding the yellow Gem under her influence.

 _She's expecting us._ Lapis thought. _There's no use hiding now, is there? She_ knows _we're here._

The ocean Gem swore she saw Amber catch a glimpse of her, before turning her head away. Did Amber really think she was stupid enough to believe that she didn't see her? Well, Lapis was hoping for it, but it didn't seem plausible. She hid behind the pillar with the others and sighed.

"Well? How are we gonna get there?" Steven whispered.

Lapis tried to think.

"I don't think I'll be able to defuse the _nuke_ if there are Gems killing me." the other Gem remarked sarcastically.

Lapis rubbed the sides of her head.

"I think I've got one. What if I try to get her attention here? Then Peridot can sneak over there and defuse it while we fight them off _here_." Steven said.

 _No, no... That's not gonna work. Amber knows._

"That _is_ _a_ _great_ idea, Steven. Let's do it." Peridot replied, "You've got the Rose Quartz Gem, you have at the very least _some_ advantage over them."

 _You know what? Screw it._ Lapis slowly opened her eyes, getting Steven and Peridot to fearfully shiver from the action. They thought they irritated her a bit too much. But instead, the Gem informed them, "I could transport the nuke somewhere safer for you to defuse. But I'd need Steven to distract Amber for a few moments, _then_ Peridot can defuse the bomb. I'll fight against Amber after we're done. Steven, you'll fight the others."

"But, Amber—"

"I'll handle her." Lapis stood straight, feigning confidence. "If things don't work out with distracting Amber, you could form a bubble around the nuke. Your powers are indestructible, after all."

Feeling relieved, Steven's shoulders slumped. He didn't need to fight the main bad guy up close. He wasn't going to be involved in this too much. Lapis could defeat her, she's the strongest Gem he ever knew. Yet, there was still this feeling of dread that lingered in him. Like, he felt... left out.

"Okay... Team Gem Squad..." Lapis glanced at the red stage.

Steven's fingers clenched into a fist.

"...go."

* * *

Ruby didn't know how they even managed to get away with all the noise they had made.

They ran through the whole city and found the red stage where Amber was, in less than five minutes. Then they had the brilliant idea to take a shot at her on the higher grounds. Amethyst and Pearl looked down at the view from the building-bridge the Rogue Nation made. Basically, like all other descriptions, this was a building that had been ripped out of the ground and placed over two buildings that were on opposite streets like a bridge between them. Thus, a building-bridge.

They could see Amber from way up there, and Pearl took her Spear out of her Gem and aimed it at the Rogue Nation leader. She thought of shooting an energy blast at her, but it had to be charged for it to take full effect. If Amber wasn't expecting it, then it might work. The shock would definitely overtake her, and she'll poof.

"That's not gonna work." Ruby informed, like she just read her mind.

"Why not?" the white Gem questioned sternly, lowering her spear.

"It's not powerful enough." she answered bluntly.

"So, what do you think we should do?"

"You know my answer. And I'd sound like a hypocrite saying it to you."

Pearl didn't understand. "...What?"

"She means that we should form Opal." Amethyst said, looking down at the stage rather than making eye contact with them. "We're at a high territory, and we'd have better aim as us _and_ more power behind a bow."

Taking her eyes off Amethyst, she looked at Ruby. "This was _your_ plan. All along?" Pearl asked, frowning at the red Gem.

"Not really. I just thought of it only now." Ruby shrugged.

Pearl stared at Amethyst, who contemplated at the stage that was a hundred meters below them. They were so high up, that if they fell, they would most probably _crack_... And that is something Amethyst had to hold back.

* * *

Steven summoned his shield and walked out from the pillar. He walked over to the center, taking everyone's attention to the brave boy who decided to step into the fray.

Amber sneered at his appearance, standing up from her throne. "You? What? Was Lapis Lazuli busy?" she snarked.

 _Distraction, Steven. Make a distraction._ He told himself. "No. If she were here, she'd kick your butt!"

"Then where is she?" Amber demanded, walking down the stage. Her Gem guards stepped away, allowing for her to take maximum control over the situation. "Where is Lapis Lazuli? Has she given up and sent you instead? Tell me, boy. Where?"

"Not..." Steven's eyes darted around, trying to think of a retort. "... _here_."

Amber glanced at the shield by the side of Steven's arm, recoiling inwardly at the amount of feedback she got. She knew that shield. She _recognized_ it. It was all over her brain, showering thoughts of hatred and disgust. She wanted to tear whoever owned that shield apart. But she kept those memories at bay. They weren't hers to begin with, after all. She shouldn't deal with others' pain and misery. She'll ignore their hatred towards the shield.

 _Sh-She's coming closer!_ Steven panicked inwardly, glancing at the nuke on stage and her incoming presence.

"You pathetic humans, thinking you could stand up to _me_? _Me_ of _all_ people?" Amber started to get angry, causing Steven to step back. His eyes widened, pupils shrinking in fear. The tall Gem clenched her fists, bending over to come face-to-face with him. "You're a child! Respect your elders! Tell me, where is Lapis Lazuli!?"

Amber looked above her, trying to act like she didn't know. And lucky for her, she saw the Crystal Gems stationed on one of the building-bridges.

 _Pitiful._ She remarked inwardly.

Steven cringed under her presence, but one look at the nuke and back at her, he could tell that the plan was going south. _Why isn't the nuke floating away? Lapis?_

Amber saw what he was looking at. "You think you could save the world? _You_? How could _you_ even disable the nuke?"

The demigem felt his heart dance around in his chest, begging to leave. It felt painful to control himself in front of the evil woman that's demanding to know where his surrogate mom was.

 _This child needs to see the error in his ways. Maybe a little... human_ corruption _._ Amber thought, raising a finger and poking it on his chest. Her Gem energy flowed through her arm and spiralled around her finger, yellow energy swirling around Steven. She smirked. _This'll do it._

Steven felt funny. What was she doing?

"What... What was that?"

"It... isn't... _working_?"

"What isn't working? This yellow thing going around me?" Steven's confidence rose. Her trick didn't work on him! Whatever it was...

Then, it snapped in Amber. The memories. They were important. That shield he had was no ordinary shield. _That's Rose Quartz's Shield. Dammit! He isn't a normal child. No, he's the same one Lapis Lazuli had around... That baby is Rose Quartz's son. I thought I had it all figured out, but I guess this is a lot more complicated than I thought. And it looks like I can't corrupt this... half-breed. He has a resistance. Can't let him know._ "You're the hybrid. _Evolutionary_... looks like I shouldn't corrupt you." she remarked, trying to hide her ineffectiveness.

"Yeah, half human, half Gem." Steven answered, his fear drowning away. _She can't do anything to me! Well... she_ won't _do it... She won't_ corrupt _me. Whatever_ that _meant._ He amused himself, his inner instincts taking over and making him throw his shield at her. "And my name is Steven Lazu—"

TAANG! Amber deflected the shield with a backhand, ricocheting it at the building-bridge. FSSH-ZHAAAM! Steven's shield was so powerful, it tore the building in half with one continuous flow of movement. And standing there, were Opal and Ruby, with the former missing her shot. They fell with the remains of the building, hidden in debris and smoke.

Steven backed away a bit, frightened by his own attack.

"Come again?" Amber retorted, gaining back her intimidating stance.

Suddenly, everything went a couple tones darker. Steven looked around, before staring upwards, in awe at the heavy rain clouds above them. The Corrupter frowned at it, knowing who was responsible for making the whirlwind of rain above them. The winds were getting faster and faster, water particles driving them to spin like a tornado. Rain started pattering against the ground, hard droplets striking against Amber's frame. Steven only got an aura of water around him, so he didn't get wet.

"Hate to _rain_ on your parade!" Lapis' voice echoed around the stage.

"Cool." Steven murmured with starry eyes.

"There she is." Amber muttered.

Up above, Lapis had taken control over the skies, using the water molecules in the air to summon a hurricane above the city. The ocean Gem raised a fist, creating a water gauntlet, and zoomed downwards at the city, also adding her own speed to progressing terminal velocity. The air was pushing against her face, the cool winds slowing her a tad bit. But it didn't matter. This shot would be enough. Thunder boomed around her, electricity manifesting through the dense rain clouds. Lapis aimed her shot at Amber, and threw the first hit.

WWWHHHAAAMM! A shock wave blew out the entire city's glass, landing a crater in the center of Kronos Quad. Dust and debris were carried away, with cars being flung around from the force. The hurricane above them raged even _more_ , lightning striking at every conductive material that was nearest to the clouds. Which meant the steel beams in all the building-bridges, causing them to collapse and fall to the roads.

Steven brought up his shield before the attack hit, and hid behind his weapon. With the hurling winds baffling him, he stood strong, protected within his own shield's barrier. After a while, his arms strained against Lapis' attack, even though it wasn't directed at him. When the dust settled, he peeked out with one eye, finding out the only thing left in the crater was him and the piece of asphalt he was standing on.

The demigem looked around, trying to find Lapis, but there was nothing there but pale yellow dirt and rain. To his astonishment, the red stage was still there, but with a water shield around it, protecting the nuke from being rattled. Peridot was within the bubble, working on the bomb.

"Peridot!" Steven cried, dropping his shield. "Where's Lapis?"

As if on cue, said Gem rose from the crater, shaking away sand from her hair. Steven staggered back from the surprise, before realizing it was Lapis. "Ugh, that _hurt_." she held her head, feeling the white fluid of her energy flow from her skull. "Did I get her?"

"Yeah, you did!" Steven proclaimed excitedly.

She smiled, but frowned afterwards. "Sorry, Steven. That we had a change of plans." Lapis stated, looking at her hands and finding her white blood to be grazed on it.

Curious, Steven wondered what had happened to "floating the nuke away". "What was the change?"

" _Peridot_ didn't tell me that the nuke had a pressure sensor." Lapis informed, gritting her teeth at the name. She would've shattered her if she weren't so important to the team. "So, while you were out there, she told me about it, and I had to switch things up a bit. But, at least, we got her... right?"

The rain clouds softened up, making way for sunlight to reach them.

"Yeah, we did—"

SSHSHHHH... The sand started shaking, multiple bulges surfacing the ground. With the dirt falling off of them, they revealed to be the Rogue Nation, still intact.

"Oh _man_..." Steven groaned.

Lapis was about to get up, expression hardened, her eyes cold. But her pupils shrunk when she felt her energy dissipate from her. She felt... weaker. She flopped onto the sand, her Gem energy leaving her body. What the hell was happening to her?

"Lapis? Lapis!" Steven shouted, scooting closer to her. Why did she suddenly fall down? They had an army to fight!

The bubble for the red stage popped, sending the nuke holder falling to the ground. Luckily, the nuke didn't go off. But Steven's heart skipped a beat from that. Peridot shuffled quickly and panicked at the situation. She could see the Rogue Gems turning towards her. Fear shot up inside her, thinking that she'd be shattered and would never go back home. It made her shiver.

"S-Steven?" Peridot called anxiously.

"Peridot, hang on!" Steven said, but he saw a shadow loom over him.

The demigem caught his breath, his heart stopped for a moment. Turning around, he saw Amber standing right behind him, her dress was torn and shredded, and her face had a large gash on it. White blood raced down her chin, her eyes shone with ferocity. The dirt had scraped her, and the friction had left superficial burns on her body. But her stance made her look like as if nothing happened. Did that hit even do _anything_ to her?

Yes... but she's hiding it _very_ well. Enough for her to scare Steven.

"You're not gonna be hanging on for a _while_..." Amber said.

Lapis groaned, trying to sit up, but Amber stomped on her, making her to stay down. The blue Gem grunted at the pain in her chest, but found it overwhelming when she felt her Gem being sucked dry of energy. Her essence was channeling its way over to Amber. It felt like... torture.

"Let her go!" Steven exclaimed, trying to step forth.

Thinking of him as a distraction she couldn't corrupt, Amber turned to face the ocean Gem. "Do you feel that? Your power _draining_?" she sneered.

"I don't suppose... it's you, isn't it?" Lapis joked, struggling to get her foot off her. She felt her strength leaving her. Exasperated, she croaked, her voice scratchy. "What did you _do_?!"

"Something I learned from an Onyx Gem." the golden Gem informed, " _Absorption_."

 _What?_ Lapis thought. _Absorption?_

Just then, Amber motioned her hand at the sky, and the rain clouds started forming back again on her command. "I have your energy. And the longer I drain from you, the more of _your_ power I will get!" Amber stated. And with her ego inflating from her win, she kept her mouth running. "That is... until your Gem gradually regains all that lost energy. But that won't happen now... when you're _dead_."

Steven practically lost all hope now. There was no way they could stop her...

CH-THUNK!

"ACK—" Amber caught herself, a burning sensation had lit up in her stomach. Looking down, she knew what had happened. And it wasn't pretty.

An arrow had struck her through the waist.

* * *

 **A/N: I forgot to mention, _Kronos Quad_ is a parody of _Times Square_. I know, it's not a complete city, I was being unoriginal with names.**

 **Sorry that this took _significantly_ longer than the others. I was busy... with... stuff. (Not a great excuse) Oh, look, this is also a long chapter! It was worth the wait, right? (Cricket noises) But at least we're here! Getting the hype train going! And stuff! I mean, look at all the things that are happening right now! Sapphire's _finally_ going to save the day!**

 **(More cricket noises)**

 **Okay, it's Opal.**

 **(Cheers from the crowd)**

 **Now, let's see how this will all turn out! Will Opal be enough to defeat the all-powerful Amber? Will Sapphire ever be useful? Can Peridot defuse the nuke? Will Lapis get her powers back? Will Ruby ever finish eating from that hot dog stand she stole off-screen in this chapter? Will anyone ever make use of Steven's resistance to corruption in this story? Will I ever explain why Amber is so strong? Stay tuned, for the next episode of Steven Lazuli!**

 **Pls review.**

* * *

 **This chapter announcement is its own thing now.**

 **Breaking News: This chapter made sure that our heroes had ensured the unavoidable battle between them and Amber. "Assuring The Inevitable".**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Manipulative Goddess"**


	17. Chapter 16: Manipulative Goddess

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 16: _Manipulative Goddess_**

* * *

 _"...the city, Kronos Quad, is in ruins, thanks to the Gems that we thought were at peace with us. Now, if you find any Gem, it will be better for humanity, if you kill it."_ a news reporter coldly stated. The Earth was in shambles because of the terrorist attack, and censorship didn't seem to matter. _"Hold on, I'm getting new information from Kronos Quad."_

Connie sighed at the television, slumping on her dinner table. Her parents haven't been home since their jobs were too important to the society. Her mother was a doctor, so she had to work overtime to help people around the hospital. Her father was a private security guard, so he had to stay at work and protect someone. Or something. She didn't know precisely.

 _"Well, here it is, folks. Amber had just launched the nuke."_ the pessimistic reporter said. _"There have been sightings of bad weather in the city, as well as buildings collapsing in it. Then, an explosion arrived in the middle of the city, which could only mean that Amber had detonated the bomb."_

Connie wondered where Steven and Perry were. She was getting excessively worried about their well-being, because they didn't arrive to school recently. And if her deepest fears were true, it meant they had died during the Gem terrorist attack in Kronos Quad. She couldn't help but shed tears because her _only_ friends were... _gone_. Just like that.

Was she destined to be lonely? To never feel happiness? She was doing so well with Steven... She wished she had spent more time with him. She wanted him to be with her right now, to have a shoulder to lean on as the world ends.

 _"We're all going to die."_

Connie glanced at the television screen, sighing audibly at the report. Was she really going to die, alone, in this room?

* * *

Opal stood in the dust, bow aiming at Amber.

The tall, yellow Gem grunted at the light arrow, closing her eyes and sighing with contempt. Amber turned around and saw Opal, who had a few scratches and burns on her. Steven stared with starry eyes, getting the strangest sense of déjà vu. It was like he had been waiting for it to happen for a _long_ time. But he didn't even know who this Gem was.

"Who're _you_ supposed to be?" Amber asked, pulling the light arrow out of her system, with said arrow fading into thin air. She took her foot off of Lapis, focusing on the new Gem that had made her appearance to her.

Steven rushed forward to get Lapis, while Amber was concentrated on the mysterious Gem. Opal panted, clenching her four fists.

"I said: _who_. _Are_. _You_?" Amber repeated slowly, stalking her.

Opal squinted her eyes at the tall Gem, noticing she was able to match her height if she had stood straight. The fusion cracked her neck in response, warming up her shoulders. With a frown, she drew back a light arrow, not aimed yet, but prepared to fire. Opal gave a glare, which angered the Corrupter.

"Can't talk? Cat got your tongue? Tell me!" Amber shouted, reeling an arm back.

The yellow Gem charged at the fusion, who dived to the side. Amber swiped at the air, knowing it was too late, and turned to find where the archer went. Opal rolled on the deserted ground, aiming her bow at Amber, and firing the arrow. The golden Gem gritted her teeth, catching the arrow with a hand, inches from her face. Opal raised her eyebrows sarcastically, mildly surprised she grabbed it out of the air.

"Try again." Amber replied, smirking.

Opal gave a mock salute, smiling back, before backflipping away. Amber's grin faded away, replaced with confusion.

"Wha—"

BLAMMM! The arrow exploded into bits of atomic energy, scathing Amber's face and hand. She had frustration etched on her face, and raised her hand at the sky. Since she had Lapis' energy, she could use it to her advantage. Rain clouds swirled, becoming heavier and heavier, creating lightning beneath them. Astounded, Opal had her jaw hung open for a few moments, before nocking an arrow into existence. Amber clenched her upward hand, and the clouds came together, becoming closely packed.

"HYAAAH!" Amber shouted, pulling her fist down. The clouds followed her movement, striking Opal with condensed vapor and lightning. The fusion blocked with her white bow, catching a lightning bolt with her lower arms, and magically drawing it back with the bow. She shot both the light arrow and the lightning bolt at Amber, who created water gauntlets and blocked the projectiles with them.

 _Did she just_ catch _lightning and shoot it_ back _at me!?_ Amber mused bewilderedly.

The electricity from the lightning bolt surged through the gauntlets, because water was conductive, and Amber used this to her advantage. She dispersed the dense cloud, creating fog so that the archer couldn't see. The fusion jumped up like it was nothing new to her, but that was what Amber wanted. The Gem leaped at the Opal, and tackled her by the waist, her electricity-filled water gauntlets shocking her. It stunned Opal, leaving her vulnerable to her grasp.

Amber commanded her army to attack Opal while she had her in her hold. Rubies started throwing fire-balls and Amethysts and Jaspers shot energy attacks. Other Gems took their pointy weapons and raised them as they tried to pinpoint where they would land. Opal's eyes widened, as she was below Amber and would get slain by the sharp objects. The archer used lower limbs to shoot a duplicate arrow at them. The single arrow separated into twos, fours, tens, then hundreds, impaling the Gems and knocking them away.

The two powerhouses landed into the mushy ground, which had a small layer of dust floating around by the fusion's attack. They rolled, Opal finally getting out of her grip and flipping upright, as Amber distanced herself from the fusion and raised her gauntlets. She hurled her fists downwards, cracking the ground which made a beeline for Opal.

The fusion had already prepared three arrows to shoot, but lost her balance when the ground cracked beneath her. She fired accidentally, missing her shots, while Amber aimed her fists at Opal and blasted her water gauntlets away which rocketed at the archer. Amethyst reacted quick enough, using Pearl's training and muscle memory, and made Opal counter one of the flying gauntlets with an arrow, before spinning her bow around at a high speed, slicing the other water gauntlet into rain.

THOOM! She wasn't quick enough to block the incoming punch to the jaw from Amber.

* * *

Steven carried Lapis on his back again, creating an energy shield and tossing it at a Rogue Gem's head, who was gonna attack Peridot. The demigem was running over to the red stage, wanting to protect the nuke from being set off. He saw the Rogue Nation separating into two halves, one half to fight Opal and another half to kill them.

"Lapis, do you have any idea who that Gem is?" Steven asked, jumping over a pair of Gems with superhuman proficiency. He had one hand to hold on to Lapis' arms, that were wrapped around his neck, and his other hand created his shield. Everytime he made the shield appear, it felt easier to do than the last time.

The ocean Gem mumbled, feeling like a ragdoll being dragged in a warfare. "Fusion..."

"Fusion?" Steven wondered, spinning around and throwing his shield like a frisbee, knocking one Gem and ricocheting at another. The demigem continued running at the red stage, feeling a lot more lightheaded from exhausting his energy.

Peridot was blasting energy beams at oncoming Rogue Gems, her limb enhancers running out of batteries. She paused for a moment, pumping the limb enhancer like a shotgun, and started shooting a thin, red laser from the tip of her bionic arm. She sliced Gems in half and even the dirt behind them, before switching to a different weapon to conserve energy. She opened a compartment from her leg enhancer and took out a small missile.

"This might be for when I'm getting chased on the fly. But, there _are_ exceptions..." Peridot told herself, and chucked it at the Rogue Nation. It landed near a group, who had their weapons pointed at her, but she directed her limb enhancer at it and shot an energy blast.

BROOOM! The missile detonated, pushing back a few other Gems that were running towards her. The Rogue Gems that got caught in the explosion were poofed back into their Gems, or left scorching painfully on the ground.

Peridot took note of Steven's incoming appearance, and brought up her screen. Instead of showing green, it was red, prepared for battle mode. It marked all the Gems with a cross, and Peridot uncrossed Steven and Lapis. She saved the information for her AI, started hovering, and aligned her arm enhancers to her sides. Peridot's mechanical arms opened up, releasing her real arms, and rocketed over to the battlefield, spraying energy bullets on the Rogue Gems.

Steven brought out a shield, smacked an arriving fireball away, and kept going. He was nearing the red stage. With newfound speed, he leaped over to it, and met with Peridot and the nuke. He placed Lapis down on Amber's throne, letting her rest comfortably, while he dealt with the Rogue Gems.

"Perry, work on the nuke!" Steven commanded, unknowingly mirroring his mother's position as leader. The demigem did a spartan kick at a turquoise Gem that had gotten up on the stage, and bashed his shield at its partner, a cerulean Gem.

"On it." the green Gem replied automatically, opening another compartment in her leg enhancer and bringing out an extra, but manual, screen. "You can _never_ be too sure." she chuckled to herself.

She checked it, opening up files and bringing up The Restart's blueprints she saved from hacking the Earth satellites' moments ago. She made the blueprints display itself accordingly to the nuke, so she could find where everything was.

"Wow, Earth technology is... different." Peridot remarked, eyes glazing over at the mechanics of the bomb.

Meanwhile, Steven was smacking Gems left and right with his shield, helped by Peridot's arm enhancers which were flying around and using the last of her weaponry. After a while, the arm enhancers were out of ammunition and went back to Peridot, the only thing left in it was fuel for flying. Peridot raised her hands, knowing they would come back, and let them grab onto her arms. The arm enhancers let out a steam of heated vapor, cooling itself from expelling so much energy.

"Perry, you can disable the nuke, right?" Steven asked, trying to reassure himself.

"Of course! We've already gone over this a thousand times." Peridot replied, working her tools and opening up the metal frame of the nuclear weapon.

CLANG! The casing of the bomb rattled across the ground, Peridot having thrown it away since it was useless. She focused on the inner workings of the nuke, her robotic fingers hovering over it. In the span of a finger snap, Peridot got to work, removing pieces of the trigger.

* * *

BAM! Opal coughed up a spew of white blood, rubbing her mouth afterwards.

"You're a fusion." Amber concluded, eyes widening.

Chuckling, the archer's head leaned back. She had doubled over, so her eyes met Amber's, smirking. "What gave it away? My four arms? My two Gems? My height?" she asked, taunting the Corrupter.

"So you _do_ talk." Amber remarked, pulling her up by the collar. Their faces were both inches away from each other. "And a smart ass at that."

Opal spat her at the yellow Gem's face.

"Would a smart ass do _that_?" the archer retorted.

Amber scowled, about to knee the fusion in the gut in retaliation, but was headbutted by her a second early. Opal then punched the Corrupter in her wounded gut with her lower arms, before giving a forceful haymaker to the side of her head. Amber tumbled back, grasping at her forehead which was bleeding out. Opal brought out her bow and nocked an arrow in place, aiming directly at Amber's head.

The yellow Gem brought up a water shield, catching the light arrow Opal had just fired. The fusion gritted her teeth, frustrated at how stubborn the Gem goddess was. The same could be said for Amber, who was also irritated by the fact that Opal couldn't stop resisting. Why fight and suffer slowly when you could rest and die peacefully on this planet? It wasn't like it was worth anything.

But to Opal, it _is_ worth everything.

Amber struck Opal with a wave of water, freezing it into shards of ice. Opal managed to jump away from being impaled, but Amber motioned the ice to strike the fusion. The shards broke apart, each being as sharp as the rest, and started zipping at the archer. Opal spun her bow at a high velocity, knowing she couldn't block it because it would just stab her. She used her spinning bow as a shield, rebounding ice shards away from her frame.

TING! The sounds of shards being knocked away by the bow. CH-TING! The sounds of shards being struck in half while trying to get to Opal. CHRRRSSHHHH! The rest of the ice that pelted the center of the bow like snow.

Then the sound of silence.

Opal stopped, knowing there weren't any ice shards left from the attack. Still, there were a few lucky shots here and there, mostly in her legs because she didn't protect them well. Amber had her palm outstretched at her, and clenched it into a fist. And all at once, the deflected ice shards or the ones that missed, pinned her like metal to a magnet.

"ACK!" the archer painfully cried, the ice daggers stabbed her almost everywhere. Arms, legs, body... mostly.

Her warm energy seeped out, nerves sending her reports of burning agony, contrasting with the icy chill of the shards. Opal was stinging from the cuts, feeling both kinds of extreme temperature at the same time. She clenched her teeth, head bowing and body failing at the pain.

"Not so tough now, huh?" Amber taunted, panting.

"Actually..." Opal trailed away, her Gems shimmering. Energy started pulsing around her body, melting the ice. Her cuts stung like a thousand from the liquids leaking in, but she could deal with that later. She numbed the pain with her determination. She wasn't going to let the Earth or humanity die because of a few gashes and blood. No, she was going to save it, even if it meant shattering both her Gems, because right now, she had only five purposes to continue existing.

To fight. To battle. To kill. To sacrifice.

To _win_.

Amethyst and Pearl had put their hopes and faith in her to win this fight, and she wasn't going to go down because she couldn't handle it. She wasn't going to lose to the opponent in front of her. No, she wasn't even going to rest, she was going to do this even if it'll go on until she ceased to exist.

With her resoluteness, she stood tall, unwavering. Eyes hard, jaw firm, she readied her bow by her side. With a crack of her neck, Opal continued like nothing in this world could hurt her.

"Impressive. But you _are_ a fusion, so a high endurance should be expected." Amber stated. "It just goes to show how powerful I really a—"

Opal drew back her bow and shot an arrow into Amber's shoulder.

"AGHH!" She clutched at her joint. "I'm _talking_ here!" the Gem said, pulling out the arrow. " _So_ _rude_."

Inwardly, she was seething from the amount of strain she put on her body. She had survived deflecting a building-shattering shield, a city-level strike to the face, an arrow through her stomach, and an unrelenting fusion. She didn't have long before she drops dead or something along the lines. She needed to separate the fusion. But how?

 _Simple. By pulling her_ apart _._ Amber thought mercilessly. _Dissect the head from the body. Then the fusion will separate. After all, the Gems are placed in her head and chest._

 _What are you thinking?_ Opal asked inwardly, creating an arrow and pulling it back.

 _I just need to call the strongest of my army: the Jaspers and the Quartzes._ Amber thought, finger twitching. "You know, this would be a lot easier if you unfused."

This alerted Opal, who began rapidly firing arrows at Amber. If Amber had used that time to plan on unfusing Opal, then it would be game over for the Crystal Gems. None of them could stand a chance against Amber. If Opal separated, then she wouldn't fulfill her goal. She can't let Amber do it! So, her mind had repeated "fire" in her head.

The Corrupter dodged her shots, leaping over the archer and preparing a fist to the spine.

FWASH! A fireball caught Amber off-guard, sending her spiralling towards the ground. She jogged away from the flames, using rain to extinguish the fire. Looking back, she found a Ruby that didn't look like from her army, who stood next to Opal, who had her bow ready. But surrounding them, were her insensitive Rogue Nation, not doing anything but securing a perimeter.

"Damn Rogue Nation, or whatever the hell you've named yourselves. Get them!" Amber shouted, pointing at the Crystal Gems. "You have to rip both of them _apart_!"

The Rogue Nation flared to life, rushing over to Opal and Ruby.

"Well... _shit_." Ruby remarked, "Nice knowing you."

Opal shot a duplicate arrow, which cloned itself midair and struck a lot of Rogues, but taking out a few Gems. Most shrugged off the projectile that had embedded itself in their skin. They kept going forward, continuing without a second thought.

"That is _not_ normal." Ruby said, getting Amber to grin.

"What the hell." Opal muttered.

* * *

Steven smashed his shield into the face of a Gem.

He gave a tired huff, sweat dripping from his red face. The demigem could feel his muscles burning, giving out. But he couldn't stop. Not just yet. Peridot was still working on the nuke. The Rogue Nation just kept on coming, relentlessly. Where did these Gems come from? How many were there left? And how come he'd never encountered anyone with powers and abilities?

The Gem hybrid felt strange. He already knew why, and he used the same reason over and over. He had his mother's memories. Rose Quartz fought in wars. His body possessed the skill and battle knowledge from her. It might also be because he had the same Gem as her, if Lapis was correct. Then, there might not be any difference in power between him and her. They had the same Gemstone, so he was just taking his mother's abilities in the form of a child.

So, everything good about him... in every battle he fought from then till now... came from his mom.

Steven felt like he cheated the system. He got his powers because he was born with it, and never did any actual training to reach this level. He was better than most of the world's population, and probably even fighting professionals. His mother had won against Gem warlords, so technically he was stronger than not just humans, but _most_ Gems. He was in the leagues of the higher-ups at this point without doing anything to get to that level.

 _"You are the best of both worlds"_ was what he thought his mother had said. Maybe she actually knew and meant it. Maybe Steven was destined to become the best Gem and human, which was why he had a head-start.

BAM! Steven poofed a Gem with a single hit, and threw a punch at another. The Rogue slashed at him with a sword, but he was able to stop her with his instincts: a mean left hook with a shield. He grappled her arm, twisting it, and she let go of the sword. He grabbed it by the hilt as it fell, spun around, and sliced the Gem in half.

"I'm guessing that's from my mom too." Steven muttered.

Peridot glanced at Steven's work, and found that the kid was doing very well. To be honest, she wasn't expecting him to be able to hold off against them, but he did, and with such powerful stature too. It had to be from his " _mother_ ", the Rose Quartz. The green Gem was trying to crack into the special frame underneath the metal casing, which was an added insurance in case someone wanted to steal the power source of the nuclear weapon, which was stupid. It was only a waste of time and effort. Even for the ones trying to defuse it.

Steven leaped over a Jasper and stabbed her in the back, retracting his (well, he stole it, but it was in his possession) sword and spinning to block another attack from a shorter Gem. The Jasper turned and threw a punch at the boy, who brought his shield up and blocked it. The other Gem he was fighting recovered from striking his shield and kicked him in the back. The demigem fell, unhanding the sword, but rolled over to avoid getting hit by Jasper.

He stood up, arching an arm back to throw his shield. Suddenly, he got tackled by a Gem, then another from the other side, pinning him down. Steven punched and kicked, thrashing away, but more Gems came to fill their place and hold him down. Eventually, it went down to Jaspers and Quartz holding him down a limb each. They then huddled over, trying to squish and crush him.

Peridot glanced back and found a pile of Gem cluttering up one space. With the boy nowhere to be found, she exclaimed, "Steven!" and stopped her work. She aimed her limb enhancer at the pile, and used her propulsion technology to push away the Gems since she didn't have any ammunition left. And even if she did have lethal force, she might accidentally hit Steven.

Since the Gems didn't budge, Peridot left the nuke and went over to help her friend, pushing them away with her hovering machinery. And because she was nearer to them, it had a better effect, but it still wasn't able to push them significantly. Then, she had an idea.

"I'm going to regret this..." she muttered, setting her propulsion tech to maximum capacity, draining away the battery life quickly. She then blasted away the pile of Gems with a sonic blast, using up all the energy in her limb enhancers, which gave a sizzle of heated gas to cool down.

Steven coughed and wheezed, laying on the ground. "I wasn't prepared for that."

"You're okay, right?" Peridot asked worriedly, helping him sit up.

Upon seeing her, he said, "But the nuke..."

"Oh... right..." she replied, looking over at the red stage.

The Rogue Nation were going in, hungrily going after the nuclear weapon. They were about to strike it. Some of the Gems had already gone onto the stage, while others threw projectiles at the nuke, hoping it would move over and activate the core. They were close, with Peridot shutting her eyes in fear and Steven watching with his heart stopping. With all his energy, he shouted.

Then, the Rogue Nation slowly froze.

At first thought, Steven thought this was Lapis' doing, but she wasn't moving or showing any signs of consciousness anymore. The air chilled, winds started picking up and snow lightly pattered the autumn grounds. From the skies, a small woman floated to the ground, with blue warrior robes flowing gracefully in the air. Her hair was tied into a bun, but she still had her bangs.

The mysterious person floated down onto the ground, seemingly unaffected by the cold. Ice started spreading from her touch, icicles formed on the Rogue Nation that froze with a thin layer of ice progressively building around them.

Stunned, Steven asked with starry eyes. "Who are you?"

"Are you Steven?" the cold person asked, with a sad smile forming on her face. "The son of Rose Quartz?"

"Yeah," Steven responded. "But—"

"Who're you?" Peridot repeated his question.

"I am Sapphire." the blue Gem answered. _What detail should I give to make him trust me? I'm a Crystal Gem? No, he doesn't like us. Well, the only other thing he knows that's true is..._ "I'm your mother's friend. And I'm specifically tasked by your mother to be your guardian in the worst of times."

* * *

Opal was swarmed by the amount of Gems Amber had in her disposal. She was surrounded by Rogues everywhere! And she knew she wasn't going to be able to defeat them with one arrow each since they weren't gonna slow down for pain. She had to poof them, but it was gonna be harder if these Gems didn't feel. Because Gems often poof into their Gem when they think the strain on their body was too much and go into their regeneration state.

Ruby had an easier time, having her rage. Her anger was rising, making an aura of heat that would melt the Gems around her. So she had her problems literally melt away. And adding to that, she would flail her limbs around and get into more contact with more Rogues, enabling her to melt them efficiently. But for the fire-resistant ones... they got exclusively punched in the face.

However, Amber was only focusing on Opal, and wanted to tear the fusion apart. So, she drove Ruby away by getting the Rogues to push her away, even if it meant melting their physical bodies on her and steering her elsewhere with their weight and momentum. The stronger Gems had taken Opal, who was trying to beat all of the Rogues with her advantageous six limbs and a bow. But it wasn't working. She got into a headlock, and was pulled apart.

Amber watched sadistically as the fusion started giving way. Opal grasped at the Quartz's burly arms, elbowing her in the gut and headbutting her. It had an impact, since the Gem was losing strength, but more Rogues pulled her by the waist and legs, tugging each side and ripping her insides.

The fused archer was dissolving into light, Pearl and Amethyst getting ripped apart and creating a hole between them. But Opal stayed still, grunting and pulling herself back into one piece. She had work to do! She still had to protect the world from Amber. She was tasked by Pearl and Amethyst, who were both tasked the same mission by Rose Quartz. And she _will_ not _fail_ them!

But, there was something in her that just... gave up.

It was Amethyst.

Tired. Spiritless. Depressed. Lacking. Un-lively. Many more words, but the main one...

Suicidal.

That tipped Pearl and Opal off, which caused the fusion to wear out. Both Gems were back in their basic forms. The archer was gone. She was just another silent voice in the back of their heads. It was just the knight and the young leader. The servant and the shadow.

The broken. The mistake. The act.

 _She knows._ Amethyst thought, watching the other Gem's face turn into a look of surprise.

The purple Gem was ashamed to see Pearl's sternly shocked expression, so she looked away, getting herself dragged by the arms by two Rogue Gems. Pearl, only being in a headlock but still having her legs, doubled over and pulled her feet over the large Gem, then bringing some momentum forward by kicking her legs back onto the ground. This made the Quartz lose her balance and fall to the floor. Pearl took her spear out and stabbed it into the Rogue's waist.

"Damn it..." Ruby cursed, taking a brief look and knowing how screwed they were. Not even Opal could beat Amber, then what would?

"The Crystal Gems... at their finest moment." Amber stated, relaxing herself. She took the time to regain her stamina, and hopefully regenerate in time. "You lost your leader. And even her _child_!" she said, adding salt to the wound. "What would Rose Quartz think of you?"

Pearl snapped. "Don't you dare—"

Amber walked over and clasped a hand over her mouth. "Shhhh... Quiet down... It's okay. We _all_ know your pain, don't we?" She took her gaze off of Pearl and looked around at the nodding heads of the Rogue Nation. "Being a confidant must be _so_ tiring, wasn't it, Pearl?"

Amber looked over at Amethyst.

"Oh, the young, new leader of the Crystal Gems. That's a lotta weight you're carrying there." Amber stated, sending a chill up Amethyst's spine. Now she knew why Pearl didn't do anything and why Ruby was mad at her. "Wouldn't it be better if you just... sit back... and... relax. Otherwise, you'd go out with a bang on the battlefield. Wouldn't want that now, would you?"

Amber's words echoed through Amethyst's skull.

 _"Otherwise, you'd go out with a bang on the battlefield."_

 _"—you'd go out with a bang on the battlefield—"_

 _"—out with a bang on the battlefield—"_

 _"—out with a bang—"_

 _"Wouldn't want that now would you?"_

 _You have no idea._ Amethyst thought.

Amber smirked, seeing the gears shift into place.

"Take your hand off her, you _disrespecting_ _swine_!" Ruby shouted like she planned to all morning. She charged at the yellow Gem, burning with a fury, before getting swarmed by Rogue Gems melting over her like liquid plastic. The red Crystal Gem grunted, drowning in goo.

Amethyst struggled for a bit, trying to get out of their hold. The Rogues pushed her to the ground, still sustaining her by the arms.

Pearl was desperately trying to get the tall Gem's hand off her, but whatever she did just didn't work. "So, Pearl... how's your life going? Do you like it? You know, being a humanoid figure?" Amber casually asked, causing Pearl to cringe. Then, she found out why Amber had been asking that.

In realization, the Crystal Gems' eyes widened in shock.

Knowing that they know, she continued playing the pronoun game. "I'm going to make it slow and painful." Amber informed, glaring down at Pearl.

There was a golden glint in Amber's eyes, and a mist of her energy slowly coalesced into Pearl's body. The white Gem felt something tug at her, then something grew inside her body. It was like a stream of energy, just corrupting her pure energy, turning everything inside her... _unstable_. Her muscles started ripping out, her physical body went numb and back, glitching out, growing and shrinking into different shapes and sizes. Amber's hand left her mouth, and she looked back at the horrified faces of the rest of the Crystal Gems.

There was a sporadic change in light, Pearl's body was flashing with energy, changing colors with brimming purple electricity and yellow insides. The darkening sky was lit with a display of bright color, which was filled with the pain of a Crystal Gem.

"Now that's funny." Amber stated, turning away. "Anyone else?"

"EEeeEeaAAAGGHHHHhhHHHHHH!"

* * *

 **A/N: It's happening guys. I'm thinking Pearl would turn into a bird because of her appearance or a dog because of her loyalty. I'm torn between them. Wait, what about... Ohohohoh! I know the perfect animal! HAHAHA! Holy crap, I'm twisted.**

 **Also, I have no clue how to disarm a nuke. And I'm pretty sure that is confidential info, so I'm not gonna bother looking up the correct steps because that would make my search history look like I'm a psychopath.**

 **Well then, guys, I'm going to explain Steven's physiology. Well, not really, just why he's immune to things. I just typed this down one day because of some reason and I find that it was the perfect explanation to this thing.**

"Amber can corrupt pure Gems and pure-blooded humans. Steven, as a demigem, might have those two features in his biology as a hybrid, but it only gives him a resistance to Amber's corruption because of the perfect balance of his biology. The mixture in him of human and Gem features were able to make a bi-product to counter unique/passive Gem attacks. (e.g. Corruption, Mind Control(?), Absorption, Gem Destabilizer...)

Peridot also called Steven an "abomination" because it's almost impossible for him to have such perfect sync between his human and Gem biology. (Also, it was a reference to that FanFic. I forgot to mention.)

Without the use of that logical explanation, anyone could say, Rose had this evolutionary mindset and created the perfect lifeform."

 **Also, I find it symbolizing that Steven is incorruptible. I mean, think about it.**

 **Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter, yadda yadda yadda, leave reviews because I like reading feedback. It's just _so_ —*sniff* It just feels so nice!**

 **EDIT: response to a reviewer named Mysterious: there's only 17 chapters now.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: There had been a slight error in my plans. So, this chapter wasn't full of manipulation. Actually, the chapter was cut off at the end because I think it fits. BUT, the term manipulative played when Amber controlled the story and told Amethyst about going off with a _bang_. And of course, I have been referencing Amber's appearance as a _Goddess_.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Beginning To An End"**


	18. Chapter 17: Beginning To An End

**A/N: Okay, so I went back to check on my writing. And wow. There are a lot of inconsistencies. I'm just gonna... explain _one_. Steven met with Connie after Rogue Nation Part II and told her he was fine. Then, since he didn't come to school after those terrorist attacks ( _Bubbling Tension_ and _Public Announcement_ ), she got worried again, and that's where the opening scene from last chapter came from.**

 **There's a lot more inconsistencies, like dialogue and characters but I'm just gonna... not explain. My brain is berating me for not noticing the mistakes earlier.**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 17: _Beginning To An End_**

* * *

"Done! Nuke is _disarmed_." Peridot informed.

Steven gave a sigh of relief, while Sapphire gave no emotion or display of joy that they weren't all going to die. The demigem wondered about that, but left it to the back of his head. But then he realized why she wasn't expressing joy, they were all going to dread fighting Amber.

"The only way we're going to survive is if we leave now." Steven informed, trying to match Sapphire's seriousness.

"What? We just deactivated the nuke, and Sapphire froze these Rogue Gems." Peridot pointed at the frozen statues of the Rogues, which were now coated fully with layers of ice. "What could _possibly_ stop us?"

"Amber." Sapphire answered.

"Oh, right, that Gem." Peridot groaned, dropping to the floor. She checked on her limb enhancer batteries, and found out they were... dead. "We're doomed."

"Wait! Not if Lapis wakes up... _She_ can stop her!" Steven exclaimed, hope surfacing in his mind. He ran over to the unconscious blue Gem that was on the throne. "Lapis! Wake up please... You're the only one who can stop Amber..." he said, slowly shaking the Gem. She wasn't responding.

"She is still recovering from having her energy stripped from her." Sapphire stated, floating over to Steven. "If she were to wake now, she would _barely_ hold herself together. I'm afraid at this point we have no way of defeating Amber."

"What about the fusion Lapis said?" Steven asked. "Can't she beat her?"

"Fusion..." Peridot murmured. She knew from memory that fusion wasn't popularly used among Gems because of its dangerously high power and its incredibly difficult procedure to accomplish the form. And to even find the perfect fusion partner so it would be stable, it would take centuries to find one that fit. It was also extremely taboo on Homeworld and never to be spoken of. Which was why Peridot had a warped vision of fusions. "That's... a last-ditch effort, as you Earthlings call it."

Sapphire motioned towards the barren wasteland of a city. "The fusion Opal had been defeated two minutes ago." she informed.

Steven looked and saw a tall, yellow Gem with a colorful, flashing light beside her. A bunch of Rogue Gems crowded the place. Team Gem Squad was far away from that conflict, so Amber didn't notice them defusing the bomb. The demigem looked back at Sapphire and Peridot, trying to think of a plan. Should they fight her? Or should they not and leave?

He thought it would be better if they all left the place and wait for Lapis to wake up. That way, they could have a better chance at defeating Amber with Lapis by their side. But what about the rest of the Crystal Gems? What about Amethyst? He couldn't just leave them, they needed their help. His inner-spirit was constantly forcing him to help others, but he knew it would be futile. He couldn't beat Amber. None of them can.

Or maybe they could use that fusion thing right now and defeat Amber. But what's a fusion? The only thing he knew was that the Opal was a fusion, and she was defeated. So, what's the use of bringing another Opal into the equation?

Steven was struggling to find an answer. Which decision would be the best for all of them? If they left, they would survive another day. But what about Amethyst? She would be left here to die by Amber's hands. He didn't want that to happen. He didn't want to know his friend vanished just because he chose not to. Even with all the positive reasons behind them, it just wouldn't feel humane.

He closed his eyes, taking a second to clear his thoughts. He took a deep breath, staring into the dark abyss.

Then, he remembered his mother's words...

 _"You are the bridge between humans and Gems. You are the best of both worlds. You have to take care of them, Steven."_

He opened his eyes, feeling a sense of clarity.

Steven immediately knew what he should do. He knew his calling. His powers were given to him by his mother on that day for a _reason_. He was gonna use his powers for the greater good. He was gonna protect the innocent from the evil. And not one soul should be harmed by malicious people abusing their powers. _No one_ deserved to be harmed for no reason. Never again.

He was gonna help strengthen the connection between Gems and humans. He was part of them. He was the bridge in the gap. And he had to fulfill his duty. Starting with today.

"We are going to fight Amber. No matter how strong she is, we have to help the Crystal Gems." _Even if I don't like it._ Steven thought.

"What? Are you crazy?!" Peridot shouted, standing up instantly. "Well, we _are_. That was established an hour ago. But this is different, this is _insane_! The only ones useful that could fight are you and Sapphire! Lapis and I are down because we have nothing to offer. It's better if we leave _now_."

"Perry," Steven started, turning to her. "There are people out there. Good people. They've risked their lives to save the world. We have to return the favor."

Sapphire nodded, inwardly smiling to see how great of a hero Rose's son came to be. "Your mother would be proud." she informed, causing Steven to don a clueless stare, before grinning widely.

Sapphire was cool with Lapis since she knew anger and hatred would all just subside as time went by. Something she was an expert at. Besides, she raised this Steven. She had to be grateful for her instead of despising her.

The cerulean Gem was always straightforward, never having to deal with things like emotions since she rendered them useless. She had the power to see into the future, she had known all the horrors, surprises, sadness and joys that were going to be presented. And the bad futures had always triumphed the good ones in numbers. She would know if she were to be proud of Steven's actions.

But, sometimes, seeing them play out in front of your very own eyes in reality, had an impact. It's because it's the truth, and it's permanent.

* * *

Amethyst cringed horribly, looking away.

The screams had ceased, but they knew she was still in agony. Pearl just lost her voice.

Ruby tried to get back up, to help, but she was pushed back into the suffocating heap of melted physical bodies of Rogues. She tried to get something to grab onto for leverage, but her hand was waving at the air, as she sunk into the goo puddle. It was a good thing Gems didn't have any respiratory faculties.

Amethyst shut her eyes. She didn't want to see. She didn't want to hear. She didn't want to know how she failed as a leader or even as a teammate. This was all her fault, if she had done her job better, this wouldn'f have happened. Pearl wouldn't be corrupted, Ruby wouldn't be drowning, and the Earth wouldn't be in such desperation. Now, Amber could kill them all in a single shot. Using the nuke. She could end it now, but she didn't want to. It was all too entertaining for her.

"Hey, you're missing the show." Amber said, walking over to Amethyst and placed a hand on her chin. She moved it up, letting Amethyst face the hell of her family. "Now, isn't that better? You can see everything! In _full_ definition."

"You crazy _psychopath_!" Amethyst exclaimed, spitting it out like venom.

"Hm." Amber responded, frowning. "That's not how you talk to a person who has you _restrained_." she said, reminding Amethyst that she had two Gems holding her by the arms. The Corrupter glanced at the two Rogue Gems that held the purple Gem, and huffed. "Well, I guess you need punishment too."

Amethyst twitched, shuddering as Amber placed her hand on her shoulder.

 _It's happening it's happening it's happening it's happening it's happening it's happening it's happening i'm going to be corrupted corrupted corrupted corrupted it's death but not at the same time not death—_

Amber smirked at the purple Gem's pained and terrified expression.

"Oh, it's not your turn for _that_ yet." Amber informed, " _But_..."

She harshly pushed down on Amethyst's shoulder, dislocating it. There was a resounding crack when it happened, showing that the Gem had created a human skeletal structure for herself. For whatever reason.

"AAAGH!" Amethyst cried, doubling over and cringing her head at the vast amount of pain. She didn't know breaking her arm would be that severe. Her body was telling her that her bone structure was _not_ in the right place, alarming all of her senses and repeating the pain over and over. Complete with numbness taking over and making it feel even worse. Amethyst gritted her teeth at the physical pain, not expecting it to be that bad.

"Why did you even _bother_ creating human bones for yourself? It looks like an intentional design flaw." Amber remarked. "At least it went better than expected. I thought I would need to prolong yours, but it looks like you've created more damage to yourself than I did."

Amethyst rapidly panted. Her arms were still held down by the Rogue Gems, and it felt worse that she couldn't do anything about her shoulder. It was burning, hotter and hotter, cutting her insides.

"You know, Amethyst, I think it's time to reveal something to you." Amber said, watching Pearl's transformation to her corrupted state. "I'm paranoid."

The purple Gem glared at her. Was this supposed to be some sick joke?

"I... created a lot of fail-safes if this didn't work. I think it's safe to say that you wouldn'f even stand a chance if you're able to take me down right here and now. I've got so many things planned, most of them small, but imagine the bigger ones. Can you imagine I had something planned to top _this_? City-wide genocide?"

Amethyst felt drowsy, the suffering of her dislocated shoulder getting to her head.

Amber chuckled. "I'm thinking of letting you guys go. I want to see _more_ of this. More of your pain and suffering. It's _hilarious_. Maybe setting off the nuke can wait..."

Her smile faded when she glanced at the red stage, finding her nuke... torn apart?

"What the—What did you do?!" Amber shouted as she lowered herself to her level, her voice barking with rage. She cooled herself down, standing back up to her enormous height. "Never mind, never mind. It's always good to have insurance. I knew something like this would happen. I have a _spare_... I _always_ have a backup."

 _What's she talking about?_ Amethyst asked inwardly. _"I have a spare" "I have a backup" of what? Another nuke?!_

"I think this is my cue to leave. My business here is finished." Amber informed, turning her head around. She was trying to spot an ambush, someone had deactivated her nuclear weapon, and there had to be a follow-up to that. Or else they left wihout saying goodbye. How rude.

Amber stepped back, expecting an attack somewhere. She remembered that arrow that plunged into her waist, there would be something akin to that again. Speaking of that arrow, her stomach was empty.

"We'll meet again, Amethyst." she groaned.

Just then, there was a shout. Coming closer and closer. "GERONIMO!"

Then, Amber realized, it was coming from above. She glanced up, just in time to catch a glimpse a young boy speeding at her in terminal velocity with his shield out. "Oh... cRA—"

BLAAAMM!

Adrenaline rushed in the boy's systems, causing him to exert much more energy than before. One of the better things about humans, was that they had an unusual adrenaline factor. Steven had that, and combined with a Gem's high power output, equaled a painfully powerful attack. Enough to destabilize the physical forms of the weaker portion of the Rogue Nation.

There was a ringing in Amber's head.

Steven got back up and held his shield in front. The demigem felt lighter, and a bit more jumpier than usual. He felt more prepared in his life than anything.

The Corrupter held her head, clenching her teeth. " _Why_... Why is it always the face?" she demanded, opening her bloodshot eyes, which were... _white_ , since Gem blood was just Gem energy. "Can't it be some other part? Like the arms, or the legs, or... not the waist because I still have a hole in it."

"You're funnier than before." Steven remarked.

"What, because I was hard on you half an hour ago?" she asked and he nodded. "I'm stressed right now, and I kinda love the sound of my voice. So, yeah."

The demigem's expression hardened. "Well, your problems are gonna get erased, because I'm gonna take you _down_! For what you did to my mother!"

Amber gave a questioning stare, while clasping a hand on her head. "Rose Quartz?"

"Y—Wait, _no_."

"Lapis Lazuli?"

"Yeah, Lapis!"

"Okay," Amber nonchalantly responded, "But first, I'm gonna have to go see a doctor. You know, to get my head checked. So, if you could wait for... I don't know—two days... that would be great."

"No! This ends here, _and now_ —Wait, you're really gonna let us go... just like that?" Steven asked.

"Well, describing the amount of pain I am right now... and how much powerful I am than you... and how tactically advantageous I would be if you were gone... maybe..." Amber charged at the demigem, holding him down by the throat. "...no."

SMACK! A whip had lashed itself on Amber's back, causing her to recoil. She stepped away from Steven, angrily turning around to see Amethyst with a twisted arm while her other hand was on the whip. FWAASSH! A fireball nailed Amber in the back, burning the mark she got from the whip. Amber turned, swishing at the flames.

Ruby was back, panting. Steven's shield bash had destabilized the weaker portion of the Rogue Nation, which meant the melting pile that Ruby was trapped in. Now, those Gems were back in their Gems, and so were the ones Opal shot with an arrow.

"So, who else wants to take a shot at my back before I destroy all of you?" Amber demanded.

Steven, Amethyst and Ruby all slowly stood up, preparing themselves for the fight of their lives. The constant flashing in the background ceased, Pearl had stopped corrupting. Amber took this as a sign that there wasn't anyone else that was gonna face her. So, she prepared herself for these three—

SCHH! Her back had been attacked again, this time it was a punch to the spine with something sharp. No, it wasn't one thing, there was four. Like... brass knuckles.

She turned slightly, her back crumpled in a way that would be bone-breaking for humans, and found Sapphire with a raised fist, that had brass knuckles on them. The Corrupter swayed, but her spinal cord had been damaged, so she fell to the ground anticlimactically, unable to move her lower half.

Amethyst sighed, plopping down to the ground, as Ruby's shoulders eased, putting off her guard. They both jumped when Amber moved again, shapeshifting her body and bringing her back to her original state. Sapphire stepped back, watching as Amber stood up to her graceful height, towering over all the short heroes. Steven reacted to this first, throwing his shield at her.

"NO! No more!" Amber declared, catching the shield and breaking it in her grasp. "We'll play another day!"

"Is this a game to you?" Steven, the only one to have the courage to talk to Amber, asked.

"Would you rather spend your whole life rebuilding a dead planet, or spend it on something entertaining?" Amber asked.

"Uh... something entertaining?" he answered reluctantly.

"So do I!" she exclaimed. "So take this time I give you, as a mercy. Because you haven't won yet... even if you _did_ disarm The Restart, I assure you that I have insurance!"

Steven stared bewilderedly at that last part.

"She keeps using that word everytime..." Amethyst muttered, holdig her broken arm. "Crud... She _does_ have another one... and she's just _toying_ with us..."

"So, if you want, you could fight me here and _die_." Amber informed, "Or, you could let me go, and I'll let you live for a _whopping_ two days."

Ruby had to hold herself in place, her rage growing with every second. She wanted to punch Amber in the face, but she knew she wouldn'f be able to stop her. She'd die seconds after punching Amber, or worse, corrupted.

* * *

Minutes later...

Peridot ran over to Steven, carrying Lapis in her arms. The dead town was filled with silence, and had mysteriously lost a large amount of Rogue Gems. The only ones left were the Crystal Gems and Team Gem Sauad. Peridot reached the battlefield, looking down at a contemplating Steven.

"Did... Did you win?" she stammered out.

Steven scratched his head, too ashamed to look at Peridot. "No."

"Then... where's Amber?"

"She got away."

Lapis gave an unceremonious grunt.

Steven looked up at Peridot, raising a brow.

"That... That wasn't me. Whatever that happened to offend you just now." Peridot stated nervously.

"It's okay, Steven." Lapis said, surprising both Gems. She was conscious! "Amber's a tough Gem to crack. Good thing we're all still alive. We could beat her next time, when we're ready."

"Yeah... I can't say for... one of the Crystal Gems' teammate." Steven informed sadly, twiddling his thumbs.

Lapis moved her head to face Steven, tiredly opening her eyes. "What happened?"

"One of the Gems got... _corrupted_." he stated.

"Corrupted." Peridot repeated, not having any sort of knowledge of Earth-related Gem events. She did her research, so saying it out loud was just reminding her what the term was.

* * *

"Pearl..."

The three Crystal Gems stared at their former friend and ally, a dog-bird hybrid. It stood on four legs, had wings on its front legs, and a beak with a pointed head. It had blue fur and white feathers, but its head was a pinkish orange. It squawked at them, occasionally licking at its paws.

"What the hell..." Ruby muttered, feeling like she was about to throw up. "Okay... This... This is cruel."

Amethyst held her dislocated arm, unable to feel anything from it. "Should we poof her?" she asked.

Ruby glanced at Amethyst, trying to avoid Sapphire's gaze.

"To put her out of her misery?" Amethyst reasoned empathetically.

Sapphire nodded.

"Who should do it?" the leader asked.

The three looked at each other, then at the corrupted Pearl. Amethyst and Ruby looked over at Sapphire, knowing she didn't display any backfiring emotions. Knowing that they picked her, the cerulean Gem sighed.

"I'll do it." Sapphire said.

Amethyst and Ruby looked away, the former trying to keep herself from tearing up. They heard a screech, some clawing on the dirt and feathers, then a POOF! Ruby stared darkly at the ground, before looking back, seeing Sapphire holding Pearl's Gemstone. Amethyst couldn't hold herself and broke down. She wasn't even able to get a look at Pearl's Gem. She couldn't. It was too... much.

She failed.

She wasn't cutout as a leader. She knew from the start, and she knew she couldn't hold that place for long.

"You're wrong, Amethyst." Sapphire said. "You are a good leader. You're just constantly doubting yourself."

Ruby crossed her arms, glancing at the two. "Future vision?"

Sapphire nodded.

The two matching Gems shared a look, before awkwardly shying away from themselves. Sapphire bubbled the Pearl in her hands, leaving it hovering over her palm since she didn't trust teleporting it back to the Temple.

Steven and Peridot walked over to the Crystal Gems. Among the wreckage, they were the only ones around, so sticking together was inevitable. Even more so since they've decided to protect the Earth. The demigem gazed at the deserted city, looking around at the giant crater they were in. A circular flatland of dirt and sand, surrounded by debris and torn buildings. What were they doing to do now?

Steven slumped to the ground, sitting next to Amethyst.

He decided to talk to her. "So... Amethyst."

She didn't respond a greeting. He remembered her as an upbeat and cheery person who would shapeshift into birds. Now, she was a completely different person. Moody and depressed.

"Funny how we met, right?" he tried.

"Steven..." Sapphire called from afar. "Give her some space."

He obliged, standing up and leaving the purple Gem. He went over to the cerulean one, looking up to her for advice. What should they do now?

"Wait." she answered, even when he didn't say a thing.

Steven narrowed his eyes. "I've wanted to ask. Are you..."

"Not a mind reader." Sapphire replied.

"Oh." he said.

The demigem went back to Peridot, who was still carrying Lapis. "What now? Do I get to go back and do my espionage again? Because, when all this is done, I kinda have to go back and report some things to my commander." the green Gem asked.

"We haven't won yet." Steven replied grimly. "And I can't help anyone."

Time went on, the sun was setting in the back, as the heroic Gems were left to camp out in the dead city. The Gems were still staying separated in their own sides, the Crystal Gems and Team Gem Squad. Steven was drawing pictures on the sand with a branch, while Peridot was checking up on her manual, backup, screen. Since, her limb enhancers had no juice left. Lapis was trying to get back on her feet on her own, but still leaning on the demigem.

The Crystal Gems were also lamenting on the event, but stayed a distance from Team Gem Squad. Ruby was standing and watching the sunset, occasionally glancing at Sapphire, who was sitting calmly on the ground with a bubbled Pearl in her hands. Amethyst was... sitting considerably farther than most of them, wanting her space.

It was only a matter of time when The Revolution would send choppers to the deserted city to do some recon. And the secret society had bumped into these seven Gems (one of them bubbled), and knew from the orders of their commander, that they needed this group of Gems to save the world. They were relieved to see that the ground was still intact, and that the nuke had been deactivated, they thought it was the end of all the chaos. So, they cheered happily as they reached the center of the crater.

Sapphire was the first one to notice, with her future vision, and stood up when they came, alerting the other Gems from her _drastic_ change in the vicinity. They saw the helicopters, and watched as they landed neatly onto the floor with cheering. But they were silenced when they remembered what they were standing on; a battlefield with the lost souls of millions of people. They regained their serious face, but some couldn't contain their glee that the world was still a safe place. Well, in the short run.

They all wore the standard Revolution uniforms, which was a padded suit with black cloth. The head of this squad, Mikey, was the first to drop off from the choppers and went over to the Gems. He had a controlling look on his face, because he was seriously trying to control his excitement of living another day. That gradually faded away, seeing the Gems' expressions.

"Did we win?" Mikey asked hesistantly.

The Gems looked to each other.

Then, the worst response any human could hear to a question like that.

"No..."

* * *

In The Revolution...

"Commander Samson, we have a squad approaching your office."

Looking out the window, he replied to the transmitter. "Who are they?"

There was a sigh.

"Six long stories."

Jake Samson swerved in his chair, staring at the communication device on his desk. He wondered who or what could possibly be six long stories? The commander didn't need to wonder any longer, because they entered his office through the double doors a second later.

There stood colors of pink, red, green, blues and purple.

One of the blues held out a bubbled, white Gemstone.

"This is Pearl. I heard she works here. We are her allies."

* * *

Half an hour later...

"So, that's it. Two days until the end of the world... _again_." Jake stated. "Why do I always get threats like these?" he asked jokingly.

There was a chuckle from Steven, but nobody else in the room was laughing.

The Gems were all resting on the couches, Steven sitting politely; Lapis laying down on a whole couch with her feet on Steven's lap; Peridot taking up a recliner and picking off pieces of her damaged limb enhancers; Ruby sitting on a beanbag, a stress reliever toy in hand; Sapphire sitting opposite Peridot on an armchair, holding a bubble; and Amethyst slouching on another chair, hiding her gaze behind her hair.

"So... Knight is out of commission." Jacob said, sighing.

Ruby crumpled the rubber toy in her hand, watching it morph back into its original state. She then punched the thing as an experiment, and it still came back. "Why did Pearl keep this _secret society_ as a secret to us?" the red Gem asked.

"I don't know. I guess she just does." Jake answered.

Ruby grunted in response, sinking further into the beanbag while stretching the toy.

"We need a plan." Lapis stated, sitting upright from her laying position. "We have two days. Fourty-eight hours. Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty minutes. We need to use this time."

"Did you do that all in your head?" Peridot retorted, sneaking a glance at her.

"No," Lapis replied sarcastically, "I have a complete multiplication table in my Gem. I just read from it."

"Stop it." the commander said, trying to cease their retorts and useless bickering. "We all need to work together on this."

"Well, we're not working with them." Ruby informed, pointing at Lapis and her crew.

"We are." Sapphire, a core member of the Crystal Gems, stated.

" _We are_?" Ruby repeated in surprise, gripping the toy in her fist so hard it almost popped.

"We have to." the cerulean Gem asserted.

" _We have to_?" the red Gem repeated, her voice cracking.

"But," Sapphire turned her head towards Lapis. "will _you_ assist us?"

Lapis laughed. " _You_? I thought _you'd_ assist _us_." she retorted.

Steven stood up, his stance showing authority equal to Rose Quartz. "We _will_ help you. It _is_ to protect the Earth." He gave Lapis a confused look, who returned it with a playful smirk and shrug. It brought his hopes up, seeing his surrogate mother look good as new, even though they both knew she was completely exhausted. "If it's to team up with you guys to save the world, we'll do it."

Sapphire smiled. "Very well."

Ruby felt like the odd one out. Didn't all of her teammates hate Lapis? What happened to all the rage and vengeance they swore on her? What about revenge? Well, Pearl was most invigorated about it. She cracked Lapis' Gem. But at least this meeting wasn't going to total crap like she thought it would. They all decided not to go the idiot route, and act like they don't hate each other to save the world. Ruby played around with her rubber toy, not wanting to further ruin this peace.

"It's a truce." Lapis said eagerly, "After this, we're all going back to hating each other."

Steven tugged at the ocean Gem's sleeve. "Don't."

"You know, this would all have gone to crap if the Pearl was here." she provoked.

"Hey," Jacob called her out. "Shut up."

"Okay!" Peridot clapped her hands, taking their attention. "Now, we've called a truce. What now? Amber said that she'd be coming back. In two days. We're all gonna get ready for that. We have all but one detail." she informed, " _Where_?"

Jacob crossed his arms, contemplating at the floor. "Good question. We could search satellite imaging to find where she flew in the last few hours. But it'll take some time..."

"She's in Dexterity Castle." Sapphire informed.

Everyone turned to her. Commander of The Revolution asked, "How do you know?"

"She can vaguely see into the future. So, that would be the most probable answer." Ruby stated, tossing the rubber toy in the air.

"Do we win?" he asked.

" _Vaguely_." Ruby repeated.

"Well, what's her new plan? We deactivated her nuke. What else does she have in store?" Peridot questioned.

"Another army?" Steven guessed, "And those two Rogue Gems—"

"Three." Ruby corrected.

"— _three_ Rogue Gems. They haven't appeared _anywhere_."

They all nodded at that. Then, the most silent Gem piped up.

"She has another nuke."

Everyone turned to Amethyst.

"What?!" Peridot groaned, "She has another?!"

"She said that it's always good to have insurance after she found out about the nuke being disarmed. I can't think of anything else she has that fits the bill." the purple Gem said. Then, after a moment of silence, she asked, "Does anyone know how to cure corruption?"

Lapis folded her arms, "I have an idea... She said something about energy absorption, and she used it against me."

"So?"

"I'm _Lapis Lazuli_. I can _adapt_ to things. I'm pretty sure I could, ya know, absorb _her_ energy, and uncorrupt your precious Pearl."

"Looks like we're _all_ getting along." Jacob stated. "We now have a base plan."

* * *

Minutes later...

The team disbatched. Lapis went to a room to rest, Amethyst did the same, while the other Gems went to work however they could. Peridot went over to The Revolution's workshop, with Steven following her. She watched other mechanics and engineers do their work, before beginning hers. She stole some tools from toolboxes and went to work on her limb enhancers.

"We're going to work on a very intricate thing, Steven." the green Gem informed, opening up her arm enhancer and creating a hologram with her manual screen.

"Hm? Me?" Steven asked.

"Yeah. Who else?" Peridot replied, spinning the hologram around. "You seem to know that comic book thing. Any idea on how to make my limb enhancers better?"

"Uh..." Steven trailed away. "...replace batteries with the main power sources?"

"I see, proportional energy input and output. You think the batteries are too weak and need to be replaced with more efficient and better energy sources." Peridot mused. "Yes, yes... I think I've come up with a way to stabilize the energy constructs in my limb enhancers."

Steven looked around, trying to figure out what she was saying. "What?"

Peridot increased the magnification of the hologram and started working on the blueprints. "I know how to make my limb enhancers better. Replace batteries," she trashed away what looked like a battery in the hologram, "with power sources." She brought in what looked like a generator in the hologram. "Longer-lasting and better energy output."

"So, what I said, right?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, yeah..." Peridot replied. She then muttered her thoughts to herself, "If I put that here, the wiring needs to be relocated here because of the spacial increase. And I would need to increase the cooling systems since the power source would be much hotter than a battery. Place paddings here, here and here..."

"Do you need me for anything else?" the demigem questioned.

"Uh, yeah. How do you think if I made armor plates for my chest and shoulders? I know I might be a bit more bulky and the flight propulsion would need to exert more energy, but is extra defense needed?" Peridot asked.

"Well, of course. This is like a war."

"I'll just... make it smaller then. I'll make paddings here... Do you need anything? You seem to be somewhat underprepared for this. You have no armor and no weapon."

"Well, I could ask the commander for armor for my size, and then I could find a weapon in their armory... Do they have armories here?"

Peridot gasped. "What if I made you... a _sword_?"

Steven blinked at her. "What makes this sword different from the rest?"

"Use your imagination, Steven. In here, this workplace, there's the best resources on the planet! If you used this to your advantage, combined with a great mind, you'd know that this is a gold mine! You could create anything you want here." she informed, her eyes shimmering with stars.

"Anything?" he raised a brow.

"Yes!" she replied enthusiastically.

"Like... a laser sword?"

"Yes, a laser sword!"

"That sounds cool."

"It does, doesn't it?"

"Are you sure you could make something like that?"

"Well, I've found some amazing substances on your planet. Like the metal Lead that could block most types of radiation. That was intriguing."

"You know, you're becoming... childlike." Steven remarked.

"I've been informed of that. But this hyperactive mode _does_ make for some extensive ideas."

* * *

 **A/N: Why are my chapters getting ridiculously longer everytime? I'm writing an average of 5k+ words now. That is above the parameters I made for myself.**

 **Anyways, it's good to see everyone in good shape. We all have a jog (a _jog_?) of chasing our hates away by giving them a mean old megaton punch to the face, arrows, lightning strikes, free-falling shield bashing and snapping spines in half. C'mon, we all hate one thing. I mean, you all hate one thing. It's obvious.**

 **(Everyone in the reviews are cussing Amber out.)**

 **I know, I know. She's a prick, and that's my end goal. Just bear with me, we're almost there. This story is almost done. (JK of course it's not. I mean, remember "55 cancri e"?)**

 **Anyways, there's this question someone in the reviews asked that has been bothering me. So, I've decided to get my favorite in-story magician, Matt Quantiny, to answer that very question publicly.**

MQ: Hello, I'm Matt Quantiny, and I'm going to be answering a question this bloke's too scared to answer himself.

 _Question: Is Greg Dead?_

MQ: Contrary to popular belief, Gregory Universe is technically dead.

...technically.

That wasn't so hard now, wasn't it?

 **Yeah. That wasn't.**

 **Anyways, review and all that shabazz. And magic will arise. No, not Matt, he's somewhere trapping demons in the story. Another chapter, I mean.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: Lapis' relationship with the Crystal Gems has become better with the truce. And vice versa. (Well, not Pearl.) Therefore, it is the beginning to the end of their dispute. Well, the beginning, so if Lapis is still seen hating them, well, it's a start.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Endgame To Evolution"**


	19. Chapter 18: Endgame To Evolution

**A/N: Seven thousand words. That's a lot.**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 18: _Endgame To Evolution_**

* * *

Steven leaned against the wall, putting the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, Connie... long time no speak. Don't... don't worry about the phone line, or how I got your number, it's... I'm in a situation right now. You know, being a Gem is dangerous and stuff."

 _"Oh, thank lord! Steven, you're okay, right?"_ her voice replied, desperate and... mentally exhausted?

"Yeah... Yeah! I'm okay." Steven exclaimed, trying to get rid of the depressing aura in the conversation. She wanted to hear her happy tone, but in a situation as drastic as this, he wasn't all that surprised her mood was dim. "Listen, I'm trying to save the world. So, it's _okay_. You don't need to worry about me. I have Lapis and Peridot by my side..."

 _"Peridot? Wait, you mean..."_

"Yup, Perry's a Gem. Hehe..." he faked the laugh, brushing his hand over his hair. He wished that made her happy. He wished he could keep her hopes up. But how? This disaster was a serious problem around the world. "...what are the odds?"

 _"That's... surprising. But in hindsight, kinda explains a lot."_ her tone brightened, giggling a bit.

"Yeah, I thought that too." Steven admitted, smiling. She laughed! A bit at least. He frowned afterwards, the distress never leaving. "Hey, listen... I'm going to fight in a couple days again. And don't worry, everything's going to be fine. We'll have this whole world thing resolved and Amber won't be a problem. I... I promise."

 _"You didn't have to make that big of a promise to me. You're... just like me, a kid."_

"I know, it's just... you're my only friend. _Human_ friend that's _my_ age." the demigem told her. "I wanted to help, and now I _am_ helping. I get to fulfill my real mom's expectations... saving the world... And I just want to share it with someone. This place I'm in right now... doesn't have all that _talking_ thing. Everyone's silent. The only one I talk to is Peridot, and she's... well..."

 _"Boring?"_ Connie guessed.

"Really, _really_ talkative about technology." Steven answered. "I don't understand a word she says."

 _"Mm..."_

"How are _you_ doing?" he asked, concerned about her health.

 _"I'm... fine. Why do you ask? You're the one who's fighting."_

"Because it sounds like you're the one having a harder time." Steven replied. He was worried about her condition. Why was she so... _gloomy_? He couldn't help but frown at the thought that his best friend was depressed. "Is everything alright there? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

 _"No."_ she sighed, _"Steven, you should be more worried about your condition, not_ my _condition. You have a war to fight. And... I'm just sitting in my house... waiting. Not doing anything."_

Steven contemplated at her words.

He stared at his feet, knowing how he felt. He felt anxious about the incoming battle, and waiting was the hard part. Doing nothing while a fight was happening made him feel useless, and small. Like he wasn't able to uphold her mother's reputation. "I heard that waiting is the worst part. You... don't know what's going to happen, and you feel _useless_." he leaned against the wall. "It's okay if you're feeling that way, Connie. I know how it feels too."

The line was silent.

Steven sat on the metal floor, waiting for her to respond.

Knowing that she couldn't avoid her emotions with Steven, she sighed, finally making a sound in the phone call.

 _"I'm alone."_ she confessed. _"My parents are out. And I'm alone, in my house, and... I just..."_ another sigh, _"I want to see you again. You always make my day... I... I_ miss _you."_

"I miss you too." he replied, eyes closed, imagining himself talking to Connie in person. She was such a sweet and caring person, and his best friend. He was lucky to have such a friend, because _she_ was the one who always brightened his day. Hearing her tell him that he did the same made him feel _complete_.

 _"Win that battle, Steven... Don't die."_ There was a strain in her voice, like she was holding back sobs. _"Please..."_

"I won't die." he responded with an unrelenting tone. He felt the fire in his soul grow brighter, feeding his determination. "I promise. We're all going to win. And then we're gonna go back to reading books about magic and destiny."

 _"Why? Your life is already much more interesting than any book I've read. I'd rather just... spend time with you."_ He could hear her struggling to contain herself. _"Bye... See you in three days."_

The phone clicked.

Steven stared at the phone. He wasn't sure if he could win back then, but now, he knew he _must_ win. Even if the odds were against him, he'll find a way. He will win this battle. And that's why the people of this world will believe in him. Because he'll save the day. He had a feeling.

He clenched the phone in his hand, realizing something.

He didn't even get to say goodbye.

* * *

Somewhere...

Commander Jacob Samson stood in front of a screen.

It was dark, and the only light source was from the rectangle glass that he was standing in front of. He held his posture, dreading to lose a man in war. But he knew there was no one else that could help the Gems in this battle, except one man. He could always count on him. Jake never believed when he said he achieved this strength with a decade's worth of training. That wasn't humanly possible.

"Wild Card." he said, and the screen

A few seconds later, a man in a black tactical suit was shown in the screen.

"I need you to do me a favor. Nobody else can match a Gem's strengths and skill like you could. So, could you help out in this battle? Maybe you could even assemble a squad to help you."

The long, brown-haired man, wearing the mask, nodded.

"Thank you. And good luck."

* * *

Two days later...

Peridot walked to the group of Gems with her newly-made battle armor. This time it wasn't made to be a prototype like her limb enhancers. This was made for heavy-duty, to be able to tank attacks and stay strong, while keeping up a heavy and fully-loaded punch. Her visor had her screen implanted, so she didn't need to raise her hand everytime she needed to know something. She could activate it with her voice.

Her new armor had a body plate that wrapped around her chest, back and shoulders, just in case she got hit in her center of gravity. The chest plate had extra flight propulsion rockets so her arms didn't need to help stabilizing. Her shoulder plates were just basic metal sheets, only providing defense. The enhanced arms and legs were bulkier, and the arms didn't contain any flight propulsion since her chest plate had it. Thus, more ammunition.

Still, it kept a light weight, thin body and was still streamlined to support her speed. There were multiple light sources on her enhancers, because that was where the power source was, and it shone brightly on the robotic limbs. She had thought of everything that was needed in war, and put into account of all the statistics in her armor. She examined Dexterity Castle, and found it to be a whole kingdom, and knew it was about two hours from the Revolution.

With the heavy clanking of her boots, she looked around the table of Gems she would be working with. She hoped her training on Homeworld that evaluated her would be worth it.

"Woah, Peridot, _you're_ prepared." Lapis remarked, sipping on a can of ice cold coffee. She needed the energy to keep herself up, and she was able to create a system in her body to convert human nourishment into Gem Energy. "Everyone else is all... nude." she waved her hand to the group, emphasizing on how none of them had armor.

"This is a _war_! Why is it that most of you don't have any extra weaponry or armor?" Peridot demanded. She felt like she was the only one who worked on the situation while everyone else didn't do a thing. "Am I the only one that used this time to advance our chances of surviving this?!"

Sapphire tilted her head at her. "Is your armor EMP-proof?" she inquired of the green Gem.

"That is irrelevant. Amber doesn't have the technology to create such a weapon." Peridot stated like it was an obvious thing. Sapphire got a glance from a gradually healing Amethyst, and she returned it with a shrug.

The red Gem faced the green technician. "Well, we are all prepared. We use our physical bodies to fight. We don't count on technology because of it's, uh... _fragile interior_." Ruby informed, arms crossed. "It's not very reliable."

"You're all sounding like that Spinel Gem. He criticized me for using technology, like all of you fools." Peridot stated, pointing fingers at each Gem, but falling short when she reached the demigem. "Except Steven, he's a _cool dude_." she said, emphasizing on slang terms.

Steven saw everyone look at him, and he said, "She made a laser sword for me."

"Which _means_ you're conforming with machinery." Peridot said with arms folded, closing her eyes and nodding at herself.

Lapis elbowed Steven, quieting her voice and mimicking a narrator. "And to your left, you can see the Peridot in their natural, egotistical state. Some legends say they use their technology to hide the fact that they can't function a toilet." she joked. She knew the value of a child's happiness, and seeing Steven subtly smirk made her smile inside.

"Okay, Gems. Today's the day we take control of the Amber infestation we have." Commander Samson said, "But first, I have a special man to introduce you to. He's going to be accommodating you in the battle. You will refer him to as Wild Card."

Sapphire's eye widened under her bangs, surprised at what she foresaw. She kept quiet, letting everyone see the man walk to the table. He had a black, tactical suit, and a mask alone with goggles. He had long, brown hair that reached his waist, and a supply of weapons he carried around.

Ruby began, "Okay, Wildcat—"

"Wild Card." Jacob corrected.

"I don't... really... care..." the soldier replied, trailing away as he saw Steven and Lapis on one side of the table. He then averted his gaze on them and looked straight at the table. "You can call me anything."

"Yeah, _see_ Samson? Wildcat here doesn't mind." Ruby stated. "So, you're gonna help us?"

"Yes." Wild Card answered with a nod.

The red Gem shrugged, "I don't see why not."

Peridot interjected, "But _you're_..." she struggled to say it in fear she offended him, "... _human_."

"I bet he could kick your butt." Ruby said, tilting her head at him.

Peridot remained silent.

"This was a last second decision for me." Commander Samson admitted. "I thought you'd need the extra firepower."

"He could help by replacing the Pearl, adding to our numbers, and poofing more Rogue Gems." Lapis casually informed, taking a sip from her iced coffee. "But can he handle himself?"

"He's able to catch up with Pearl in training." Jacob stated, "Sometimes defeated her in hand-to-hand combat. But power-wise, _or_ dependant on their own physical power, we all knew he'd never win. Which was why they focused on simple things."

"Humble." Lapis remarked, sharing a glance with Wild Card.

"Pearl was training here?" Ruby asked, feeling a little betrayed by all the secrecy. "Jeez, what _didn't_ she do?"

"All she does here is related to the mission." Jake replied.

"Yeah," Lapis said, rolling her eyes. "Let's keep it as that."

DING! The table glowed red and the Commander knew what it meant.

"We're near Dexterity Castle." Jacob informed.

Lapis turned to Peridot. "You're up." the ocean Gem stated.

"Yeah, yeah, search for the nuke. I know the plan." And Peridot walked away.

The green Gem went over to the drop off point, balancing herself on a wall. A Revolution soldier nodded at her, and she nodded back, and with a flick of a lever, the wall beside them opened up, revealing mountains, forests and grasslands passing by them. The winds started acting up, things getting pulled into the open air. Peridot pushed herself from the wall, and slid down the slope of the aircraft they were all in.

She jumped out of the plane.

The Revolution soldier pulled the lever back, and the hangar door closed.

Steven looked up at Lapis. "You think she's gonna be fine?"

The ocean Gem shrugged.

* * *

Peridot fell through the air, watching clouds pass by her.

The ground was getting near her.

Then she activated her flight propulsion and green energy lit through her boots and chest plate, firing her upwards. She turned and saw the giant flying base slowly hover to the Castle's location, and motioned herself to fly in the same direction. But given her smaller size and advanced technology, she was able to speed past the giant aircraft, and take the first spot.

Hills and valleys were seen, the grass had never been greener. Forests were planted on the flatter lands, and there was not a single sign of artificial work. It was so natural, so full of life, and so _green_. Peridot smirked as she flew over to Dexterity Castle, and found an old kingdom that was overridden with vines and trees. The territory was a sandy type of pale and had green lines etched over it, nature taking back its place. The kingdom took up 10 acres of space, and it could compare to a small town. There were lots of visuals and places in the kingdom, but she was rather interested in finding the bomb instead.

"Okay, screen, tell me any signs of radioactivity in the mass of land?" Peridot asked her screen.

A lot of word blocks and bar charts about energy waves and signatures popped up on Peridot's screen. There was no information that seemed equal to the nuke she disarmed a couple days ago. It was as if there wasn't a nuke...

"Okay, what about... electromagnetic frequencies? Is there anything about that?" the space-mechanic asked.

More blocks of letters and charts about the topic, none that showed any of Peridot's attention. They didn't have anything related to the energy emitted by nuclear bombs.

"Huh. That's... strange." Peridot remarked, hovering over the kingdom. "It seems the Amethyst was wrong. There is no nuke. Or the Amethyst was right, and it's the _Sapphire_ that's wrong. Thus, the location isn't correct."

* * *

In the castle...

"Amber, the Peridot has arrived." a Gem scientist informed.

The yellow Gem, now reformed, was busy playing corruption and uncorruption with her toy Kyanite. She was reverting it into its uncorrupted state and corrupted state, bringing pain into her. Amber paused, letting go of the poor Gem and standing up from her throne.

"Would you like to use the one shot EMP?"

Amber rose from the throne. "Activate it."

* * *

Back with Peridot...

The green Gem was hovering in the sky, about to contact her crew about the misinformation, when an electric blue bubble grew from the castle. She wondered what it was, and her visor had blocked out her vision with alerts of an electromagnetic pulse. Peridot's eyes widened, muttering something about shrinking the alert signs, and lowered the rate of alarms.

While doing that, the EMP quickly grew larger and larger, and she got hit with it. Her circuits fried, and her visor and flight propulsion had shut down, leaving nothing but disadvantages to Peridot.

The green Gem fell through the sky with useless limb enhancers, sighing.

"So that's why the Sapphire asked if it's EMP-proof. She _knew_."

Peridot tried to reboot the system, rummaging through her limb enhancers, but it decided it was gonna stay dead cold for a while.

She clawed at the air, trying to stabilize herself even when she knew it was no use. She was gonna hit terminal velocity, and the impact was gonna poof her. The ground was getting closer, just like when she jumped out of the aircraft a moment ago. Except, this time, she was certain she was gonna hit the ground instead of fly.

"Crap, dang it, clod... This is gonna hurt."

Her visor shimmered to life, popping up with messages and alerts.

"YES!"

She instantly fired it up, activating the flight propulsion to skyrocket herself. She hovered a moment, taking a deep breath, before falling back to the ground, this time about seven feet. The green Gem stood still, thankful she was alive on the ground, and looked around. She walked, discovering on her visor that she was smack dab in the center of the kingdom. It looked like an old temple.

"That... was... close..." Peridot struggled to say. "But of course I would survive. My chances were fairly high." she bragged, "I _am_ Peridot, after all. Smartest of them all."

" _Really_?" a voice said from behind. "How _fascinating_."

Peridot gave out a yelp, turning around and looking at a new Amber. "Oh, so you're _her_. I don't think we've _met_ before."

"Yeah, I don't think we've formerly met either. Hi, my name's Amber, and you're going to die today." the yellow Gem informed. "I know you, and you know me... we've actually seen each other the other day... but the thing is, both of us have never really interacted."

"Yeah, I'm not _too_ eager on that." Peridot admitted.

"Well, duh. I'm quite boring." Amber retorted sarcastically, "I commited acts of terrorism in... only two places? Not a big deal. Killed over a million people a couple days ago. Not much. And I took over this whole kingdom and a whole army of space warriors. Plus, I probably caused an outrage to the whole human populace with the whole "nuke coming from secret society" thing."

"If you put it that way, it seems impressive. Which makes it interesting." Peridot replied, using her quick-wittedness to her advantage. If it was ever an advantage.

Amber expressed her gratitude with a nod. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Peridot replied, shrugging.

Amber narrowed her eyes at her, turning her head. "Are you... _stalling_?"

"Well, I can't beat you myself." she admitted, starting to walk. Amber copied her, walking in the opposing direction. The two walked in a circle, not sure how to start this. "This is really difficult. I'm supposed to dislike you, but you're really pleasant."

Amber nodded, looking back to her walking feet. "They say "never judge a book by its cover". And, to be blatantly honest, what you're looking now is what they call a "cover"."

"Oh stars..." Peridot muttered.

"What are you stalling for? Reinforcements? Charging a weapon? Your deadline?" Amber asked.

"Oh, you know... the usual." the green Gem replied, keeping her eyes on Amber. Her fingers twitched at every step she took. "Like this fight we're going to have."

"Likewise." she claimed.

"Did you know about the EMP?" Peridot questioned.

"I keep a close eye on potential threats. Some say I'm paranoid, while I say... I'm just two steps ahead of you." Amber answered.

"Is that literal?" Peridot asked, glancing down at their feet and back up at her.

"No, no. That would be exaggerating." Amber replied.

"Uh... do you just so happen to have a nuclear weapon... somewhere?"

"Yes. I do. Hidden _somewhere_."

 _Damn._ The mechanic thought.

Peridot sighed. The tension was everywhere, from the old pillars of the temple, the pale stony floors, the vines etched on the structures, to the simple sniff of the air. She could feel death on this barren kingdom. And this confrontation could only end with a battle to the death. And she didn't think Amber was gonna lose hope of this situation anytime soon.

Her job was to locate and disarm a nuke, not fight Amber.

"Okay, this is _enough_ waiting." Peridot informed, clicking something in her arm enhancers.

The technician threw a grenade at Amber, who caught it. The grenade was stolen from the Revolution armory, so it was just a standardized one. It exploded in her face, but she shrugged it off, having dealt with worse. Amber walked over to Peridot, who continued barraging her with flamethrowers. Fire spewed out from her limb enhancers, showering Amber in heat, but she kept going, the blazes getting stronger. She was able to grab her by the collar, and hold her up.

"You _really_ like holding people by the throat." Peridot mentioned, noticing the trend.

"Got a problem with that?" Amber asked threateningly, her good side gone.

A voice rang in Amber's ear. _"Amber, the Lapis Lazuli is in the boundary."_

Peridot started waving energy beams into Amber, leaving superficial burns on her new robes, which went away and revealed a dull, metal armor. The technician noticed, and concentrated her energy beams at the chest plate. Amber smacked her upside the face, halting her from continuing to blast her.

"So, _that's_ what you were stalling for. Lapis Lazuli." Amber informed.

"Really? She's here? That's _nice_." Peridot replied crankily, a bit surprised one Gem came to her rescue.

Amber lowered Peridot, and saw a blue blur on the horizon.

In a couple seconds, Lapis reached the sound barrier, and crashed into Amber with enough force to shatter everything else behind the Corrupter. Peridot was unlucky to be in the balst zone, as there was no mercy for her. There was now a triangular patch of dirt, with some of the temple structures and stony floors and stairs gone.

Smoke and dust filled the scene, with Lapis standing where Amber once was, donning some bulky, ice armor. The ocean Gem looked around, scanning through the sand particles that were floating in the air, and saw a shadow... a _tall_ one. The dust was swerved away with a huge gust of wind, showing Amber with glowing eyes.

"Why is it that _you_ always have the great idea of hitting me head-on from _afar_! What the hell is all that?!" the Corrupter exclaimed.

"I've seen the force equation in human physics. It's interesting to see how much force I can generate." Lapis answered nonchalantly. I mean, it's not like the fate of the world was resting in her hands.

Lapis created an ice gauntlet, and on her other hand, a trail of water spinning at such a high velocity that it could cut through steel.

"If these two are here... then that means," Amber muttered under her breath, then rose her voice, "ROGUE NATION! To your positions!"

Lapis turned to Peridot. "Go find the nuke! I'll handle Amber!"

Upon hearing that command, the green Gem rocketed away.

* * *

With Amethyst and Steven...

"I didn't know you could ride a bike." the demigem informed.

"There's a lot of things people don't know about me." the purple Gem replied.

The two were riding on a motorbike, travelling through the trees and jumping on bumpy surfaces. They had dropped off three minutes ago, journeying to Dexterity Castle with an easy mode of transportation for Amethyst. And _fun_.

Amethyst rode off a dirt ramp, letting them fly over the ground for a moment, before bouncing on the dirt path. Steven clung onto Amethyst tightly, afraid he might fall off. This just challenged her to go even faster, knowing he was prepared and had already secured himself better around her.

The two could see the sandy kingdom, just a few miles away. Just a short trip on the motorcycle, and they would already be there. They could see little glints of light emanating from the castle, before it started littering itself all over the place.

"Are those... Gems?" Steven asked, squinting.

Amethyst nodded, "It's starting..."

After a bumpy ride, the two were closing in on the kingdom, but the old walls were blocking their way. Amethyst pulled out a whip and took a crack at it, which broke the aging walls like an explosion, while continuously riding the motorcycle in. Steven pulled up his shield, protecting him and Amethyst from the falling bricks. They soared into the Rogue-infested kingdom, with Steven leaping off the flying vehicle, leaving Amethyst to drive the cycle alone.

Steven threw his pink shield at the progressively-appearing Rogue Gems, letting his weapon strike them like a falling meteor. Amethyst slid on the vehicle's side, tripping Gems over, before regaining her balance and vrooming off to another portion of the kingdom. The demigem landed a kick onto a Rogue Gem, bouncing off of her, and unsheathed his laser sword from the scabbard on his back.

He swung at the Gems as if he did it so many times before, the bladed metal being lit with plasmic energy. The boy clashed with the Rogues, who had little experience to battle, only acting as ineffective zombies. It was easy pickings for the boy, since he had done it so many times before, looking from emotionless face to emotionless face. He had already known the idea that he was putting them into a coma because poofing didn't mean killing.

Lapis had entrusted him with this weight of responsibility, and so did his mother. They both believed in him, and that he could make a difference. So he did.

After battling and poofing the last of the Gems in his part of the kingdom, he went on to the center to reach Lapis and help her defeat Amber, but he was stopped by two familiar figures and one new Gem he'd never seen before. Green, black... red. He knew one of them was Emerald, the other was Hematite, and the third one was unknown to him.

"We meet again, Steven!" Emerald yelled, waving a salute.

"It's a pleasure to see you again!" Hematite exclaimed. "Unfortunately, this is war ground, so this may be your final chapter."

The other one had a zombified look, eyes glowing yellow.

"That dude is Spinel, if you wanted to know." Emerald informed, pointing at the crimson Gem. "He's had some tough times."

Steven brought out his indestructible shield, both hands having weapons. It was three against one, and he knew that they were harder to beat with their knowledge, power and experience, so he was pretty much dead in his eyes.

Until their was a chill in the air.

Whispers were heard in the wind, the temperature dropped gradually, and there were spiderwebbed frosts of ice on the surfaces of the place. The color of pale sand turned to luminous blue, sending shivers up their spine. Steven smiled as he knew who could've done this, and from the shadows came a hovering Gem with white and navy warrior garbs. Both of her hands had painful-looking, metal knuckle-guards, which were going to be used on the Rogue Gems.

Sapphire glared at the three Rogues, her single eye hiding behind her cerulean bangs. She smirked, watching the three underestimate her with their thoughtful expressions.

Emerald piped up. "That's it?"

Suddenly, in lightning-fast speed, Sapphire had already delivered a blow to his face, continuing to hammer her fists at him. Emerald was moving back from the hit, and remained in that state as Sapphire kept hitting him, pushing him back more and more. And at a terribly quick pace, Sapphire had knocked Emerald through walls, his body acting as a ragdoll to her punches.

"Ughh..." Hematite groaned, going after Emerald to help him.

This left Steven with Spinel, who didn't look friendly at all. The atmosphere seemed to fit him, cold and menacing. There was no hint of kindness coming from him, like all of it drained away for the purpose of making him look scary.

Steven spoke up, "So... we've never met."

"I'm afraid we have." Spinel replied, his voice matching that of Amber's.

The demigem raised a brow.

"You see, I've taken this Gem's body as a host, since my other body is out there... fighting your _mother_." Spinel, or more precisely, _Amber_ informed. "Now I have the means of killing both of you at the same time, without using the same body."

"That's... _crazy_." Steven struggled to say.

"I know. But this body, or this Gem, doesn't know anything of his capabilities. He has potential, let me show you..." Spinel manifested a sword out of his spikes, using them to morph into anything he wanted. He created a shield on his other hand, using the same technique. "...he has so much power. I couldn't help myself."

Steven narrowed his eyes at him, almost cautiously.

Waving his sword around, Spinel asked, "Now, shall we begin?"

* * *

Lapis hovered above the ground, water wings outstretched.

"I've got aerial advantage." she taunted.

Amber glared. "You think you're the only one who can fly?"

In response, Lapis shrugged. The golden Gem smirked, her eyes giving off a menacing gleam. The ground beneath her vibrated, and gradually, there was a space of air between her feet and the ground. There was only an inch of this space, then a foot, and then she was hovering off the ground at the same height as Lapis. Amber clipped off the burned, white robes, revealing an ancient-looking, bronze armor. The blue Gem furrowed her brows, eyeing the golden Gem.

" _What_? How?" the ocean Gem demanded.

"Absorption." Amber calmly responded, like it was an ordinary thing. "It's a gift."

Lapis shivered, imagining her opponent absorbing as much Gem energy as she could from the Rogue Nation. That would've made her unstoppable! How was she going to top that? Unless, there was a limit to her absorption, then there was a chance. Plus, the Rogue Nation seemed fine, so it didn't look like Amber abused them too much. Or else that supersonic strike she gave her at the start wouldn't have affected her. That gave her hope. There was still a chance.

"You look different." Lapis remarked, trying to create some banter to lessen the tension.

"You too." Amber replied, "New jacket?"

"Yeah. My last one had a hole in it." Lapis answered, inwardly trying to call some clouds or increase the humidity.

"Hmm, I don't recall making a hole in your jacket." Amber stated.

"No. It wasn't you. Someone else did it." she said. _I forgot to yell at that Ruby about this!_

"Are you trying to stall as well?" the Corrupter asked with a suspicious stare.

"What's there to stall for? I'm the strongest Gem on the planet. That's why I'm here to fight you." Lapis informed.

Amber folded her arms, laughing. "I thought _I'm_ the strongest Gem on the planet."

"You cheat." she retorted.

The conversation ended there. The dreaded air of tension came back. Amber smirked maliciously, uncrossing her arms. She kept one arm in the air, taunting her by curling her four fingers to herself and straightening them back at Lapis, which was repeated twice. Lapis' eye twitched, before reforming her water gauntlets, which were twice as big. The ocean Gem flew over to the Corrupter, swinging a haymaker to Amber's face, but she easily blocked it with her forearm.

"Come now, you're slower than last time." Amber remarked, "Oh wait, all you did before was punch me in the face. Twice. Both had an unfair start to them."

Lapis threw a punch, which was dodged, then used that inertia to spin, reverse-kicking her behind the knee. Amber crumpled under that, and Lapis continued to spin like a twister, hammering blows to the side of her head with her gauntlets. Amber took one after another, before quickly recovering from the last one, and grabbed Lapis' arm before it hit her again. She tugged, pulling the blue Gem forward, and head-butted her. Lapis clenched her teeth at the hit, but was still in her grasp, so Amber followed up with a knee to the head, hitting her new weak spot.

Amber growled unceremoniously, making an uppercut into Lapis' jaw, shattering her teeth against each other, and jabbed her in the face. Lapis felt something warm seep out of her mouth, her white blood. She created a water helmet for herself, turning it into dense ice, and head-butted Amber like she did to her. The ocean Gem smashed her water gauntlet against Amber's gripping hand, using so much force that it shattered the other gauntlet.

"AHH!" the golden Gem cried, clutching at her damaged hand.

Lapis spat her blood at the Corrupter, and since it was basically Gem energy, the ocean Gem was able to convert it into an attack. Amber let the blood splatter onto her bronze armor, which then dissolved it like acid.

"You're resourceful." Amber remarked, staring at the bloodied and bruised Lapis. "But you don't look like you could fight any longer."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Lapis replied, rubbing her jaw. She looked down at her frosted gauntlets, and found an abundant amount of pure Gem energy on it. She sighed, going back to a battle stance. "I'm _still_ standing."

"Is that supposed to be a challenge?" Amber inquired of her.

Realizing how it could backfire and turn into a game of "Knock Lapis out as fast as you can!", Lapis sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Nah."

* * *

On the motorcycle, Amethyst was dragging a Rogue Gem by the arm, before tossing her at a pair, knocking them down. She was on a city path, passing small houses and occasionally swerving around a sharp turn. The purple Gem revved up the bike, accelerating it so that the front of the vehicle was hanging in the air. She cracked her whip, stunning Rogues in her way so she could barrel her way into them.

There was a sniper shot that she heard in the back, and then again in the front. Amethyst watched as one by one, Rogue Gems retreated back into their Gems without a clue. There were long, narrow bullets on the ground with Gemstones scattered around the place. Amethyst glanced at the source of this, and could see Wild Card in the distance, paired up with Ruby who was shooting fireballs at some. She continued driving, steering her way towards them.

Ruby and Wild Card had made their mark near a statue, standing on the stump and firing at the incoming Rogue Gems. There were too many to count, and most of them were recognized from the battle on the bridge and the city a few days ago.

"Ruby!" she shouted, gaining her attention. "Shoot!"

The hotheaded Gem knew, and prepared a fire ball. Amethyst balanced herself on one side of the cycle, hurling it into the air. Amethyst skidded on her feet, watching as the motorcycle spun in circles, hitting Gems in the face, before getting hit with a fire bolt, lighting up the gas tank and exploding into pieces. A nice chain of offensive maneuvers ending with a bang.

Wild Card ducked, letting shrapnel fly overhead, and kept shooting with a sniper rifle. Amethyst transformed into a beast, picking up Rogue Gems and thrashing at the other groups. She grew ten feet tall, stood on her short, hind legs, and a wolf-like snout. She bared her fangs, which glimmered in the sun, and roared at the Gems. Amethyst snapped at one, dangling it in her mouth, and struck a few more with her newly extended claws. She went on a rampage, destroying Gems and buildings with her might.

Ruby leaped to a nearby roof, since the houses in the kingdom were short, and fired up her gauntlets. She had one on each hand, and both were flaming. She fired them at the ground, poofing Gems and causing a splash attack from the explosion. She created another pair of gauntlets, and threw fireballs at the surviving Rogues.

Wild Card struck a Gem with the butt of his rifle, reloading while kicking another in the chest, and started shooting again, poofing three Gems in one shot. He kept at it, until there were too many and they grabbed at his sniper rifle. He let them take it, pulling out a dagger and stabbing one in the eye, cutting clean through her face. He punched another in the stomach, returned to the one who had the stabbed eye with a kick, before going back to the one who had a stomach problem with a smack. He jumped back over to the statue's stump, kicking at their heads. He unpinned a grenade from his bag of tricks and chucked it at a group. The projectioe exploded, taking out some more.

Ruby hopped over to Wild Card, whipping out a fiery death to the Gems that were near Wild Card. It took out the group that he was supposed to dispose.

"Tough day, Wildcat?" she taunted him.

"Haven't started." he replied, picking a submachine gun from his back. He opened fire on the Rogue Gems, reloading it immediately with another magazine clip.

"Seriously, where do you carry these things?" Ruby asked, turning back and raining hell on the Rogues behind them.

* * *

Peridot flew over the kingdom, trying to scan for a nuke for the twentieth time. She had circled over it for a while now and lost count. There had to be something she was missing. Amethyst had theorized a second nuclear weapon being stashed in the town, and Amber confirmed it. Sapphire had guessed the city correctly, and this was truely the base of operations.

So, where's the nuke?

She had tried finding any openings to a radiation spike in the kingdom, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Just the normal amount of radiation a place could have. Peridot looked over her readings a bit, staring down at the kingdom with a puzzling expression.

 _If I were a supergenius, how would I hide a nuke?_ She asked herself.

Her visor alerted her of incoming Gems, so she snapped out of her thoughts and fired energy blasts at the flying Rogues. Upon closer look, it didn't look like they were naturally flying.

 _Those are machines they used._ Peridot thought, watching as the Gems helplessly fall out of the sky. _So they have the same intellect as me. It's that same question again! How would I hide a nuke?_

* * *

Flashback...

 _Peridot was looking down at the school yard, wondering what happened to the high Gem energy her screen had sensed._

 _Then, there was another time where she had studied a chemical algorithm called "lead", which had the properties of being able to stop three main types of radiation._

 _Then she flashed back to when she was explaining the wonders of unlimited resources to Steven in the Revolution base. She remembered mentioning "lead"._

* * *

"That's it!" Peridot exclaimed, "Lead! They've hidden it with _lead_!"

The green Gem flew back to the kingdom, leaving a trail of green energy in her wake. She landed in the middle of the kingdom again, knowing how to find the lead compartment.

"The humans used this method too. I think." Peridot said, programming her arm ennhancer to emit gamma radiation, the one out of the three types of radiation that is able to pass through all materials with the one exception which is lead. She gave a small pulse of the radiation, letting it go citywide.

She checked the readings for gamma radiation, trying to see if there's a part of the kingdom which wasn't affected. What she had done was similar to a sonar. She gave off a pulse of radiation, and since lead isn't affected by it, her readings for radiation would show a part of the kingdom that wasn't irradiated. That was where the lead was, thus where the nuke was hidden. And on her screen, there it was shown the position of the nuke.

"I've found you." Peridot told herself, blasting off into the skies and zooming towards the location. She blasted energy blasts at the Rogue Gems under her, while she was flying to the place. She landed on the roof of the house, blasting it with a missile, and brought herself into the room.

Inside, she saw computers and Gem scientists, working around the clock. There were flickers and levers everywhere, buttons and lights scattered across the walls. But the elephant in the room had to be the giant box covered in lead, and a few pointers that said it was going down. Peridot began blasting Gems away, causing chaos in the room.

One of the Rogues picked up the phone, hiding away from Peridot. "Amber, the Peridot found its way in here."

There was murmuring. _"Use the failsafe."_

The same scientist put down the phone and ran over to the lead box. There was a lever that stood out from the rest, and she flicked it, right before Peridot poofed her. Lights went blinking all over the place, signals and alarms blaring. The green Gem rushed to the controls, cursing about how it was so primitive, and wondered what the hell was happening.

Her visor beeped, alerts panning themselves on her screen.

Peridot's eyes widened in horror of what's happening.

* * *

Outside of the kingdom...

Cracks began forming around Dexterity Castle, removing itself from the ground around it. It separated, becoming its own thing, and started to move away from the mountains, forests and plains. Birds started flying away, as the castle seemed to be getting taller. No, everything on that kingdom seemed to be getting taller.

Except, they weren't.

The whole kingdom was just hovering off the ground.

It was flying.

* * *

 **A/N: So... the Civil War trailer dropped recently. And I'm a big fan of Marvel, so... why not? Let's bring in a flying city, and use that flying city as a platform for a nuke drop. Seems like an excellent performance, doesn't it?**

 **It was fun while it lasted.**

 **Anyways, it's been a while and I forgot how I write the Author's Note. So, uh, hi, how's it going? Liking the events so far?**

 **Also, I knew that throwback and statements about lead was going to be significant. (Totally did not. I just picked up the opportunity.)**

 **If you're wondering about power levels and all that... Don't think about Lapis being beaten by Pearl and is now fighting evenly with Amber who was even with Opal who is always significantly stronger than Pearl. It's just inconsistency at its best.**

 **I like this chapter and all the stuff that's happening. And if you notice, Lapis isn't following the plan of uncorrupting Pearl, she's just trading blows with Amber.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: This is officially endgame.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Raining Gems"**


	20. Chapter 19: Raining Gems

**A/N: Fair warning to readers, and as future reference: this is 17k words long.**

 **...**

 **What the frack, why is this so long? Why didn't I split this into parts?**

 **EDIT: It looks like when I deleted some kind of chapter, the story thought it was updated. Which it was. So, that's why it was updated earlier today with no new chapter. Because I deleted the other chapter. Then because of that, this chapter wasn't on the front page when it was updated. So I posted this again.  
**

 **If you're reading this chapter _again_ , congratulations! You're one of the nine people to read this chapter early!**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 19: _Raining Gems_**

* * *

The Revolution...

"What is going on there?" Jacob demanded.

A scientist approached him, giving him a tablet and showing him a screen of a flying island. "It seems that Dexterity Castle is going for a trip." he said.

"Why the hell does Amber need to be so... _complicated_?"

* * *

Back in Dexterity Castle...

"What did you _do_?!" Lapis shouted exasperatedly, watching the landscape fade away.

"I did some redecorating to the place." Amber informed, sneering at Lapis' surprised expression. "This was supposed to be a failsafe in case you guys caught me, and you did, _much_ quicker than I anticipated. So, I made it fly. Just like us." she announced.

"That is _insane_!" Lapis exclaimed, thinking of the horrors Amber could do with a floating island. She could use this to demolish cities, use this as their own personal flight transportation, use this as a meteorite to destroy the whole surface of the earth. It was a flying, giant island of death.

"Is it?" Amber asked with false sincerity.

"Yes!" Lapis retorted, jaw tight.

"Come on... Dropping a bomb from a flying city onto a grounded city is not insane. It's a _perfect_ sight." the Corrupter replied. "You get to look at the scenery, watch the emotions of fear and dread on the faces of humans, and watch them burn to a crisp while you're unharmed, but still on earthly soil."

Lapis clenched her fists, nails piercing through her skin. Her Gem blood was being shed, and she _still_ hadn't made a game changing hit on Amber. "How are you doing this?" she asked.

"Well, I used my whole troop of Rubies to power the rocket engines that were placed around the kingdom. So, there are giant flight propulsion technology under the castle that uses rocket engines, and this floating rock is using an electromagnetic pull to keep it all stable and holding together." Amber explained, "That's how the Rogue Nation does it."

"You're using other Gems as... _slaves_?" Lapis' mouth hung open, pupils shrinking. Something in her sparked. "They're... They're _prisoners_... to the engine? If they stop, this whole kingdom will _fall_."

Amber gave a huff. "You seem surprised. Isn't this the kind of thing _you_ would think that I would do? Honestly, I thought it was in my flesh and blood to do these kinds of things." she stretched her arms. "Now, where were we?"

"No... No more... You need to _pay_ for what you've done... taking the lives of _millions_..."

Lapis shook with rage, every breath she took let out a steam of hate. Her eyes had a fire in them, burning everything she saw. The ground started smoking, the air got moist, the skies turned dark and rain started to lightly patter against the ground. Her blood was boiling, an energy in her waiting to explode, waiting to _combust_. Amber looked around at the thundering environment around her, wary that this was Lapis' stronger state. There was rainwater _everywhere_.

Amber felt it run down her body, touching her Gemstone. It stayed. Freezing up. The golden Gem wasn't smiling now.

"You need to _know_... You need to under- _stand_. How do _you_ like it... to become a _prisoner_?" Lapis demanded, her eyes starting to turn into a reflection of her soul. Cold and dark. Powerful and fragile. "How do _you_ like it when you're trapped against your own _WILL_?!"

Lapis swayed her arm violently, and the ice covering Amber tightened, piercing her and crumpling her armor. Blood started to seep from her skin, drying her out like a squeezed sponge. Lapis pulled her fingers into a fist, and the rain swirled around Amber, covering her and applying vicious amounts of pressure. Amber felt herself getting punctured with a multitude of needles, sticking into her body like a pin cushion. There was pain _everywhere_.

Burning, scalding... Amber couldn't resist to cry out in agony. Lapis walked over to the Gem, her height was nothing compared to her, but she still held a threatening position. Amber felt her insides chill and burn, water seeping through her body from the frozen impalements. Lapis now had full control of her actions, and made her stand upright, torturing every part of her body to _move_. Amber grunted at first when it happened, but when Lapis brought more force into her actions, she began yelling.

"RAAAA _AAHHHH_!"

"How do you like it, to _scream_. For _thousands_ of _years_. To feel dread in the air around you?" Lapis asked, still wearing her frown. Her torture didn't provide any satisfaction to her... yet. There was only revenge, rage and hatred. It only fueled her anger. "How do you like it to feel _powerless_!?"

Lapis brought her hand out and straightened her fingers. Amber did the same, stretching her limbs and pulling herself apart. She fought for control, trying to stay together and not explode into little bits of herself. Lapis exerted more force into her palm, and Amber's static body was sent flying.

BRROOM! She crashed into a wall, the inertia never affected. KRACKK! Lapis flew over, kicking her feet into her stomach, and kept Amber moving into brick walls and bringing the castle pillars down. BAMMPH! Lapis waved her hand, and the water inside Amber's body stopped, ceasing any real motion from the Gem.

Lapis tore the petty armor Amber had. "Do you get it? Do you understand how it feels to have all your _freedom_ ripped away from you?! And you had the _audacity_... to come to _me_... for _help_? You thought we were _equals_?"

"I-I made a mistake..." Amber replied hurriedly, feeling an emotion she had never felt before. Fear. "...I... I underestimated—"

PSHHOOM! Lapis punched Amber in the jaw, shoving her head through a building.

"I've been harboring a lot of power... A lot of control... And so, I've never felt this strong until _now_." Lapis chuckled, her eyes wide with anticipation. This time, she felt something satisfactory. She just saw her enemy _break_. She saw _fear_ in her eyes. And it felt _so good_ , she needed to grin. "I get to control the _lunatic_ behind the destruction of millions of _innocents_... I could end this right now... Make you _my_ prisoner." She was ecstatic from the idea. "...But _I_... _don't_." The ocean Gem's smile faded, "Because that's wrong. That's _sadistic_. That's... what the villain does... It's what the captor... does..."

 _This... isn't what Steven would want me to do._

Amber felt herself loosening up, the water in her no longer holding her up. She could feel her own body! She stared down at the broken Lapis, confidence rising... and so was her fist.

"But that's what _I_ did..." the blue Gem stated, realizing how easy it was to lose herself into madness. "It's... necessary..."

BAAANGG! A bullet ricocheted off Amber's arm, and she turned, seeing Wild Card raise his stolen sniper rifle. Besides him were Ruby and a charging, violet beast. All three were standing in the dark rain, as lightning struck behind them, giving a threatening vibe. Did they just beat her entire Rogue Nation?

* * *

Steven dodged a sword stab here and there, clashing shields with Spinel.

He swung his bladed-laser sword over his defenses, which was countered by a red blade striking it at the same time. The red blade turned into a multitude of spikes, changing shape from Steven's swing and grappling it like a whip. Spinel spun and brought Steven to a full circle before turning his whip back into a blade, letting the demigem fly into a pillar. The boy struck the concrete structure, breaking it clean and dissipating his shield. He landed against a brick wall.

The eliminated pillar made the roof unstable, giving way to the building's weight. Spinel created a cannon through his shield and shot a spike bullet into the ceiling, setting off a chain reaction of cracks and falling stone. Steven groaned, picking himself up and leaning against the wall for support. He winced at his bruised eye, rubbing his side as it was the part of the demigem that struck the pillar.

"Okay... I need to do this... _without_ getting hit." Steven told himself, panting. His grip on the sword tightened. "He's like a better version of me. Or was it _she_ , because Amber's controlling him? Okay, _she's_ like a better version of me."

"Watch out." Amber, as Spinel, warned coldly.

Steven's legs moved instinctively to the warning. He had a feeling that moving away before looking was a much better thing to do than searching for whatever that warning stemmed from. Turned out it was a piece of falling rock. Good job for his mother's inherent quick reflexes, he thought.

"Nice moves." she remarked, spinning the sword in his, her, hand. "Wouldn't have been able to do it without my help."

He shrugged, trying to act as cool as Lapis. "I try." He blinked, thinking, _I think that one-liner was a little too late._

"That was a little too late, don't you think? Props for _trying_." she joked, aiming her sword at him. The crimson weapon started shooting separate spikes, decreasing the sword's length. Steven bought his shield up and blocked the projectile spikes. He waved his shield once, and all the spikes that stuck to it fell out.

The demigem charged, clashing with Spinel again. With his added boost, he was able to knock both of them out of the building, tearing down walls to damage the crimson Gem. Out in the dark, heavy rain and thunder made them wet, Steven looked up in confusion. It was bright as day just a while ago, now there's clouds all over and it's raining. The atmosphere was getting darker, as Spinel kicked the perplexed demigem into the breaking building.

The pillars couldn't hold the weight, and gave way, letting the structure fall. VEEEUUOOOOMM... Steven heard all the cracking noises, and brought his shield over his head, as the building crashed onto him with all its weight. KRRRASHHHCHH! Concrete and stone broke into pieces, crashing onto the ground and giving it a rumble. Debris flew around, dust settled in, and thousands of rocks were left in place of what was once a beautiful, architectural structure.

Spinel turned his shield into an umbrella, protecting him from the rain.

"What an interesting predicament. I just dropped a whole building on you." Spinel-Amber stated the obvious, turning his sword into a single rose. "In memory of Steven Lazuli... Here's a fallen rose for the irony."

She let the red rose fall onto the dirt, letting it get hit with the cold, harsh rain.

"Where was I?" she asked. "Probably supposed to help get rid of that blue cyclops."

The rubble shook.

Amber stared.

A light cut through the rocks, growing in height and moving concrete out of the way. There was a hand that got out of the suffocating situation, holding the light sword. It gripped on some rocks, pulling his body out, and letting him get a whiff of air. The demigem gasped, throwing rocks off his shield. He was covered in dust and little grains of sand, with a few visible bruises.

Steven coughed, spitting pebbles and salt. He stood back up, still alive and breathing, not ready to lose this battle. After all, he promised his mom he would not lose for the world. He promised Lapis he'd win this one. He promised Connie. He'd come back.

"Is that... all you've got?" Steven taunted, spitting on his forearms to heal the bruises he attained from the rubble. He then rubbed that saliva onto his face, only then knowing he was bleeding from a gash on his head.

"I've got plenty more kicks." Amber informed, turning his umbrella back into a shield. He created another sword, this time resembling more of a katana, the same type of blade Steven's laser sword was.

"I have no response for that." the demigem honestly replied.

He threw his shield at Spinel, who blocked with _her_ shield. Except, Steven's shield pierced through his defenses and destroyed her only weapon of protection. She got hit with the Gem weapon, staggering back, as Steven closed the gap between them and struck his sword against her shoulder. Spinel's shoulder had spikes on them, acting as body armor, which stopped the blade from going deeper. It did make a wound on her though.

Steven raised his hand and caught his shield, which he used to bash Spinel in the face. The possessed Gem morphed his sword into a hammer, taking a step back to recover from his head injury. She spun around, gaining momentum for the hammer, and made a swing at Steven, who blocked it with his shield. WHUMPSHH! His mother's weapon did absorb the impact, but some of it was still able to get through to the boy, knocking him back a few yards.

The demigem rolled over the ground, his pink shield bouncing away with visible cracks on it.

"You are one tough kid. I'll tell you that." Amber remarked, walking over to a moaning Steven. The demigem had his fists clenched, and pushed himself off the ground, sitting up. He had one leg up and was sitting on his other. He panted as he stared at Spinel.

"Thank you." Steven replied, propping himself up with his sword. "You're difficult to beat too. I didn't have that much of a plan... All I had were people telling me what to do, and somehow, they knew I excelled at that."

"I have a feeling that they told you to defeat me." Spinel stated, a feeling of dread coming over him. He blinked. "Oh shit. Well, lucky me, this isn't my real body."

 _That's it! I have to smack the control out of him!_ Steven realized, outwardly exhausted. _So, do I hit him in the head? I don't think that'll work, since Gems and humans aren't the same. So... I guess it's the same plan, I'll have to defeat her or him myself. Wait, why was she afraid of me when I told her about what I excel at? I mean, he was beating me just now. So, what was all that about? Is it because she can't corrupt me? That's weird, because that doesn't seem to be her plan if she isn't in her body._

"Oh, who am I kidding? I'm still beating you!" Amber cried, swinging the hammer to her side. She stared at solemn demigem. "You're not moving. Huh."

 _C'mon, Steven, think... what could Amber be so afraid about me? Think, think, think..._

"Well, here goes..." Amber slowly, and cockily, raised the giant hammer over Steven's unmoving body.

TZZIIING!

In a flash of lightning, Steven sliced through Spinel's body with his laser sword. Amber released her grip on the hammer, and clutched at the giant wound in her, his, body. There was a thin line in her torso, and before she knew it—POOF! Steven took this moment to have a few short breaths, contemplating at his last second offense. Amber was used to underestimating people, but Steven thought that there was another thing she didn't account for.

 _Unpredictability._ The demigem thought, staring down at the crimson Gemstone. _She knows everyone else in this game. But I'm a new player with a different play style._

Steven nodded to himself.

 _I think I stuck the landing on that one._

He looked around, noticing the heavy rain and his wet shirt.

 _Now what?_

VEEEOOOM... THUDD! He heard the green robot land to his right.

* * *

Sapphire was dealing with a speedster, who had unlimited batons, and a tank, who had an enormous strength behind his polite attitude.

And she was doing very good at it.

She did a split kick in between them, backflipping graciously, and blasted a wind of frost as she landed. Hematite was only quick enough to turn and got his legs frozen, but Emerald had already escaped her trap and ran with a blinding speed, swinging a fist at her jaw. Then, as if she knew what was the best thing to do, she did a couple of maneuvers in a split second. Sapphire ducked just as fast, her forearm doing a wide sweep into his legs, tripping Emerald over. She brought his legs to the sky, standing up to add height, never really touching him aggressively, and made him look like he just ran and got denied a pass by her.

Emerald rolled on the snowy floor really ungraciously, all his limbs being spread out making it look like he did a failing cartwheel. He recovered, his Gem glowing with energy. He kicked the ground, snow flying everywhere, and zoomed into Sapphire. He leaped, kicking her straight in the face... if she hadn't dodge.

The whole scenario flipped over again as Sapphire brought a palm to his face and smashed him against the ground, losing all the energy of momentum and speed into a snow splash. A crater was formed where Emerald's head was, as he laid there, sprawled out.

Hematite got out of the ice trap, creating his giant shoulder plate and charged at Sapphire. Without even looking, said Gem jumped over him, and smacked him on the top of his head with her Gem weapon.

Hematite yelled, "How do you know what we're going to do without even looking?"

"Magic," Sapphire retorted smugly, waving her fingers individually.

The black Gem scrunched his nonexistent nose. "You're a cocky fellow."

"She's an effin' smartass, I'll tell ya that!" Emerald yelled.

The lime Gem raced his way towards the cold prophet, with green light trails spreading around him. Sapphire stopped him, grabbing him by the arm and spinning him around slowly, gradually lessening the momentum. She flipped him over, leaving him flat on his back. Emerald growled, growing impatient, and threw a hasty punch at her. Sapphire caught it and put him in an easy armlock.

"You think you're the only one who's _quick_?" the cerulean Gem asked, pushing him away.

Emerald stumbled, before turning back to face her. "What? You're saying you're fast too?" he demanded, putting his arms up as a challenge. He lowered them down as he realized something. "Oh, wait, so that could explain why you kinda know what's going to happening. You assess the situation using your super-speedy brain, right?"

"Not quite," Sapphire smirked, "I'm just saying I'm faster than you."

"Oh, really? Race ya around the castle." Emerald challenged, speeding off in a trail of green and white.

Sapphire followed, moving forward with her progressing inertia. Since she's constantly hovering, the maximum speed she could reach would be terminal velocity, since all she was doing was literally falling. If you don't count the direction of her "fall" that is.

Hematite looked around, feeling alone in the snowy roads of the deserted kingdom.

In a few moments, Sapphire came back, skidding on the floor, with Emerald following close behind.

"That's not fair! You're flying!" Emerald protested immediately.

"I think I've figured out how to shut you down." Sapphire dusted her hands. "A minute ago, I did an armlock which shouldn't have done much damage to you, unless you have a skeletal structure. In which case, very sad move... Amber used the same trick against Amethyst."

"What're you talking about?" he asked, getting heated up over a race. "Don't all Gems have skeletal structures?"

"Yes. But different. Not like ours. Yours on the other hand," Sapphire quickly walked up to him, and punched him viciously in the small of his back. Emerald screeched, his body flopping to the ground as he felt himself snap into two. "is like that of a human."

"So _what_?" Emerald spat, "It's not like it... it..."

"...it matters?" Sapphire finished, watching as the lime Gem's expression turned to panic.

He wasn't moving. Or at least, his lower half wasn't moving. "Wh- _Whaat_? What did... I can't—I can't feel my legs! Did you... Oh my _stars_ , did you just break my back? That is _such_ a dick move. I can't believe you."

Hematite chimed in, "It wouldn't have happened if you had our "skeletal structure". I don't know what that means. I'm not a medic."

"SHUT UP—Oh space, the pain is settling in." Emerald grunted in agony, his muscles telling him that his body wasn't supposed to be connected that way. It was like a constant alarm telling him to fix the problem or the pain would increase. "AaaaaAAHHHHHHHHHH—"

POOF!

Emerald's Gemstone rolled on the ground, before spinning on itself and stopping.

"That's kind of dark." Hematite remarked. "I do hope it wasn't admirable though."

Sapphire stared at the giant rock monster, trying to think of a way to subdue him.

"Just a few days ago, we were able to beat you. There wasn't a problem." Hematite informed, "Now, you've just defeated the quick one. The table has flipped, I propose."

"Can you forfeit this round?" she asked.

"I cannot. I have to uphold my loyalty." Hematite replied.

She stared at the ground, watching her alternate future moves.

"Begin?"

"Begin."

Sapphire sped over and struck him in the knee, getting him to trip over. She then got onto his back, striking the top of his skull repeatedly. Hematite grumbled, trying to pick the blue Gem off his back, when Sapphire slid over to his shoulder and took a stab at the joint to his Gem. She froze the Gem-placed shoulder and encased it with ice, much to the frustration of the rock monster.

Hematite shook the earths, trembling the ground and himself, but Sapphire didn't fall for it. She sharpened her brass knuckles, and aimed for the frozen and vulnerable joint.

CRINKK! Sapphire struck the ice, and cut his shoulder clean off.

POOF! Without a second thought, Hematite retreated back into his Gem, knowing it would be better to regenerate from this than to keep going without the arm where his Gem was. Though his loyalty kept Sapphire at bay, he knew a losing battle when he saw one. And he knew the best thing to do... was to retreat.

"That went better than I expected." Sapphire mused.

VEEEOOOOUUMM! To her right, a green, tech-based Gem landed on the snowy platform with a heavy clang from her boots. TUDD! Peridot walked over to Sapphire, with a child in her arms. The demigem had to put his arms around the technician.

"Hey, Sapphire! Do you want a lift to the rest of the Gems?" he asked.

"I will gladly partake." Sapphire answered, receiving a dreaded sigh from Peridot.

"Fine..."

The mechanic took Sapphire from the back of her warrior cloth, and Steven in the other hand. Her leg enhancers filled itself to the brim of green energy, and blasted off into the sky.

* * *

Wild Card aimed his sniper rifle at Amber's head, finger itching to press the trigger.

Amethyst spoke, her voice contrasting to her huge beastly body. "You're done, Amber. The Rogue Nation's finished and there's nobody left to help you." She transformed back into her normal state. "Just let yourself be shattered, and everything will be fine."

"Getting confident, are we?" Amber asked, turning her head to the trio.

"I don't see why you're _confident_. Lapis Lazuli just turned you into her puppet!" Ruby exclaimed, her gauntlets glowing with heat. "And you were practically crying! When you reach that point, there's no turning back. You'll _always_ be pathetic."

"You, the Ruby, are really rude." the yellow Gem said, "I should give you a penalty."

Amber filled her mouth with saliva and spat it at Ruby, which was incredible, seeing there was a good fifteen meters between them. The abnormally green saliva flew directly towards the hotheaded Gem, immediately starting to show its acidic properties.

"WOAH! WHAT THE F—" Ruby shouted, taking a step back to avoid it. She had her arms out to block, but sadly, it splattered all over her, already corroding her gauntlets.

"RUBY!" Amethyst yelled, trying to get the red Gem out of it. But a touch of the spit had burned her finger.

"—GAH! DAMN IT! WHAT IS THIS SHIT—" The golden Gem's saliva started melting her, smoke turning up. Ruby glowed orange, trying to fry away the acid with her heat, but it did nothing. The saliva started growing unnaturally, getting her immersed in the slime. It was taking over her physical form and dissolving her. Her body began to shift colors and glow plain red, with the exception of her Gem.

"Acid spit. One of the greener Gems had it." Amber informed nonchalantly.

Lapis watched as one of the Crystal Gems endured the agony of melting. Outwardly, she showed no sign of emotion or panic for this, but deep down, she was concerned about her well-being that she needed to stop whatever's happening. She was uncaring about the Crystal Gems, but she wasn't cruel enough to let heroes die when she knew it could be avoided with her help.

She instantly got back on her feet, and tore the roof down with heavy rain. The rainwater sprayed itself in the room, engulfing Ruby in a bubble of water. Lapis separated the bubble that had a disorienting Ruby with green slime, into two: one with a poofed red Gemstone and the other with the disgusting saliva.

Amethyst just stared in shock. She couldn't do anything while her friend was dying. She was useless. And their former enemy had to be the one to save her. She was _really_ useless. Maybe it was better if she was gone.

"How do you keep that in your mouth?" Wild Card asked, his defense lowering.

"Some kind of gland. Pity the Ruby didn't _die_." Amber replied, using this distraction to take Wild Card by the throat and cutting his rifle in a single chop. She held him up, glancing at the two ready Gems. "So, back to the topic... you think you've won? You think you're heroes? What about this floating castle, huh?"

The human raised a brow. "The castle is floating?"

"I'm positive you haven't even disarmed the nuke." Amber informed. "If the nuke was disarmed, this city will fall as a connected failsafe. And do you know, what will happen if this city _does_ fall? The amount of kinetic energy it will amass will be enough to cause the same impact of that of the meteor that made the dinosaurs go extinct! Let's see if the precious humans you protect have evolved enough to compete with _this_ extinction-level event!"

"Hey," Wild Card called, waving a hand in front of Amber. In his hand was some kind of egg-like substance. "You've got bigger fish to fry."

He threw the thing over to Lapis, which glowed white and turned out to be Pearl's Gemstone. The ocean Gem got the idea and tackled Amber by the sides, remembering how the bastard had absorbed her power. She knew what it felt like to be sucked dry of energy... she could create the same event to cause the same thing to happen to Amber.

And, she did.

The golden Gem's essence flared out of her physical form, and went into Lapis' Gem. The Lazuli opened her eyes, and it shone yellow. Lapis felt herself becoming stronger, the weight of her energy becoming apparent. It made her grow... ecstatic. She could finally feel what kind of power the Corrupter had that could take control of an army of Gems. To know what were her limits, and her weaknesses... her strengths and talents. And again... she did.

* * *

It was overwhelming.

Seeing each and every thought of every Rogue Gem Amber had taken. All corrupted because of her. All seeking to destroy the world out of hatred, rage, revenge... and the promise of home, peace, serenity. Amber was playing a more complicated game than Lapis ever knew. Manipulating the thoughts of every Gem to do her bidding in return for something she couldn't give. It sickened Lapis. It... was just... a lot to take in.

When it registered in her, Lapis could read the codes of Gems... corrupted and uncorrupted. Which ones were pure and which ones were... contaminated. Every Gem had a unique coding to them, and the Pearl she was holding, it was _broken_. It was fractured, like it took a hit that will never heal. It was all jumbled up even, and some more artificial code had been implanted to mess it up even further. Lapis pitied the white Gem, almost as if she was sincere. She wanted to fix her. She wanted to fix the very person that broke and cracked her.

It was strange.

 _It isn't Stockholm syndrome, that's for sure._ Lapis thought.

She could feel the fiber of energy that's connecting each piece of Pearl's code. She could feel it being tampered in her fingertips. She could be able heal her and bring her back to her pure state... or she could go the other route and mess it up even further.

She could see her memories.

Pearl's memories.

Instead of just... seeing through her eyes.

She saw through her mind.

Her hopes, joys, sadness, angers, fears... love...

Lapis could... understand.

She saw the world how Pearl saw it. She saw her hardships as a Pearl, a servant, being turned into a genius warrior. Taking orders and secrets from her precious commander, following her all the way, even to the most ridiculous places and reasons. She could feel why she promised Rose, how heartbroken she felt when Steven's father came into the picture, why she felt so broken after she took Steven... and how she spiraled into insanity and grief, using the Earth's government as a window to her frustration.

She had done every promise to Rose, except one.

Protecting her son.

Steven.

Lapis had made that promise too.

But to nobody but the air.

This experience was serene. She could see why now. She could see her life before and after being locked inside her. In a way, she was like her.

Lapis needed to fix this.

Pearl didn't deserve this. She needs her serenity.

 _No. Not from me. She's hated me too much. But from others. To_ _Rose._

* * *

Lapis restored Pearl to her pure state, free from corruption. All of her thoughts had happened in an instant, and she was back in the real world, snapping out of her mind. Amber was panting her heart out, while Lapis stood in the middle of the room, the air around her... simply bliss.

"She's feeling it now. The feedback." Amber informed, smirking widely. "The power..."

"What did you do?" Amethyst growled, seeing as though Lapis had turned into a statue, and made her unresponsive to nature.

"Ah. Finally. Something _beautiful_." the leader of the Rogue Nation answered.

"What?" the leader of the Crystal Gems asked.

"I did _nothing_." Amber said, standing up again. "That's the _beauty_ of it. I've done nothing and everything's going downhill for you. She's the one that's doing _something_. What she's feeling now is my power. And it's _very_ intricate. Set one thing off, and the game is over before you know it."

The white Gem in Lapis' hand shimmered brightly, then shone a white flash, forming a physical body for itself. It created a slim figure, with the same details as the Pearl before, except donning a new navy battle suit with padded gauntlets, leggings and chest plate. A spear was brought out of her hand, as she glared at her Corrupter. Amber was dumbfounded, glancing at Lapis and the restored Pearl.

"I think it's symbolic, Amber," were her first words.

Lapis snapped out of musing at the yellow energy she absorbed. She had a groggy look, which was then nullified with the new character in front of her.

Pearl raised her spear. "The two of us have one thing in common: we _both_ hate how devolved humanity is." She looked to her teammates, who were exhausted and missing. She brought her gaze back to Amber. "But... there _is_ a difference between you and I. We have different aspects on them. You aspire to destroy it, while I devote my time into helping it become better."

"You've become brave." Amber stated, "You're no longer hiding in fear of me."

"That's because I've learned something from these humans. "Fear" is just an illusion of the brain, to help the mind know _what_ is danger." Pearl felt her lips turning into a smile. "But danger is all I've known. I've put my body in harm's way before. Pain is nothing dangerous to me. _You_ are nothing dangerous to me."

The golden Gem snarled.

Amethyst smirked, putting up her fists.

VEEEEOOOM... THUDT! A green mechanic was on the battlefield, carrying two other powerful Gems in tow. The demigem and the prophet.

Lapis held her head high, her conscience finally reminding her how bad Pearl was. The hate was still there, just lessened. There was... a mutual respect. Like they had a thing going between them. Little did Lapis know, Pearl never even once thought of returning a _fraction_ of that mutual respect.

"So..." Amber glared at the seven heroes in front of her. "...all of you think I don't pose a threat anymore?"

"Are you asking?" Steven retorted. Peridot pointed her arm enhancer at the golden Gem. It opened up into several types of weaponry, with missiles, energy blasters, flamethrowers and lasers. The demigem continued, "Because the way I see it... It's a fact."

"Lapis," Amethyst called. "Do what you did. Take control of her body."

The ocean Gem aimed both hands at Amber, and gained control over her physical form with the water inside her. The golden Gem grunted in pain, not used to the numbing feeling again.

"You're done, Amber." Pearl proclaimed, swinging her spear beside her. "It's _over_."

Amber held her head down, scowling. Her amber eyes glared darkly at the remaining fighters, as if staring into their souls. She was powerless and helpless, what else could she do without her abilities and the Rogue Nation?

Well, there was one thing.

She narrowed her eyes, glaring. "First, do you know where this floating island is heading?"

Everyone paused.

"So you _don't_ know this place is heading to places. Good..." Amber looked at the green Gem. "...I think _she_ knows."

The Gems turned their heads to Peridot. "It's approaching... Beach City." she informed.

Pearl and Amethyst were inwardly struck with the information.

 _The Temple!_ Pearl thought, alarmed.

"Shatter Amber, quickly." Amethyst ordered. "Then, we'll form a plan." She turned to Sapphire. "How much time do we got?"

"Eleven minutes." the blue prophet answered.

Amethyst looked like she was gonna get crazy from the stress of the situation. "...and you didn't say _anything_? At all?"

"I thought we'd be able to do it."

"You think you could destroy me that easily? Yes, I'm in your grasp, but I am _very_ durable." Amber laughed, "You can't stop where this castle is headed. When we reach the Crystal Temple, either I drop the nuclear warhead, or Dexterity Castle will fall onto it, and the resulting kinetic energy will equal _that_ of an atomic _bomb_. There will be more casualties! You can't stop me!"

"Lapis!" Amethyst shouted, "Poof her!"

Lapis clenched her fist, and Amber turned into a ragdoll stuffed inside an invisible sphere. She gave out a few shrieks of pain, Gem blood squirting from her. The Corrupter laughed hysterically, inwardly counting down the remaining minutes until the floating island hits Beach City.

"You won't stop me! You never will! I've made sure of it! I'm practically indestructible!" the squished Gem desperately yelled. "Give up! You won't win! You're all gonna _lose_! _Always_!"

Steven stepped back, thinking of negatives, when Peridot stepped in front of him protectively. She snuck a glance at the demigem, before turning her glare at Amber.

Peridot's arm enhancers opened, a steam of smoke exiting the metal plates. She aimed her weapon at the deranged Gem, and built up green energy from the power cores of her enhancers, and lit up every blast-related weapon into activation. Her enhancers reached the maximum of energy built up, and started giving off steam from overheating.

"Eradicate!" Peridot ordered, and her arm enhancers responded with a giant BRSSSHHKKOOOUUUUMMMMM! A dense wave of electrifying plasma directed itself at Amber, and engulfed her in rage.

Peridot's visor alerted her of the energy cores dropping, but persisted onward when she heard the golden Gem scream. She hadn't poofed yet.

There was a faint scream in the blast. "YOU'LL NEVER WIIIINNN!"

"Just die already..." Pearl muttered under her breath, and brought her power into her spear, creating a bright ball of energy on the tip. She pointed it at Amber, the weight of the sphere growing, and fired, sending out a beam of light that crossed Peridot's beam of light.

Amber took on the brunt of two powerful blasts, still fighting off the pain, no matter _how_ excruciating it was.

The ground under them was breaking apart. Even pieces of stone were rising from the gravity of the attacks. The light was so bright that they had to look away so they didn't get blinded. The only way they were able to know if Amber was still alive was from her constant taunts.

The Ruby Gem glowed.

A body manifested out of nowhere, standing up.

"She's still alive..." the hotheaded Gem muttered, sadistically smirking. "...Good..."

With a new brown cape flapping behind her, she created a crimson gauntlet, opening her fist to create a fireball.

"I can still have _my revenge_." Ruby produced a beam of fire, swallowing up the faint shadow of Amber in the light. Seeing it wasn't enough, she poured more energy into her attack. "I guess I'll have to rev it up." She placed her other hand on the gauntlet, and twisted it. The gauntlet rocketed off her arm, and flew into the light.

BFFF-SSHHHHHHH! An explosion ruptured the building, and Amber's yelling faded away.

Peridot stopped, lowering her smoking arm enhancers and letting them droop to the ground. They glowed orange, close to melting the metal surface from overheating. Pearl lowered her spear, and the lights stopped, showing a giant hole opposite to where they were at. Their spectacular beams hit buildings and fried holes in them.

The two Gems panted, as they saw their surroundings. The building they were in had completely vanished, and there were holes in the clouds, letting sunlight seep in. A giant crater had formed where Amber once was. Ruby waited for the inexplicable return of the golden Gem, but it never came.

They all listened as the smoke rose from the ground.

They all expected the sound of a Gem clanking on the ground.

But it didn't come.

There wasn't a sound of a Gem dropping onto the ground.

Not a thud.

No golden Gem was present.

"Did we... Did we win? Aside from this castle hitting land of course." Steven asked, looking around at his peers.

"There's no Gem." Peridot stated, telling everyone the obvious statement in their minds. Everyone wondered what the hell happened. Did they disperse so much energy that they destroyed her Gem too? No, that would be too easy. Amber had to have another plan behind this, didn't she?

"Maybe you vaporized it." Amethyst guessed.

"No. I'm... picking up her energy frequencies. She's still alive." Peridot informed, confusion etched on her face. She tapped on her visor, looking around. "But... how? There's not even a single form of matter or evidence that Amber's Gemstone was here? My visor isn't picking up any small particles of it or gas-like form. But she's on the kingdom..."

Sapphire immediately spoke in realization. "Amber is a naturally-occuring Gem of Earth!"

"Naturally-occuring? Ohh..." Amethyst groaned, remembering her studies from Pearl. This meant the Gem was made naturally on Earth, not from a Kindergarten. Because of this, they had a much more variety of special properties since their naturally birth. One of these special properties was to be able to create a physical form outside of their Gems. The negative to this was that Amber wasn't able to make a weapon, and she hadn't done so the whole time. "...it makes sense... This is bad..."

"What's bad?" Steven asked, eyes starting to water. "Did we lose?"

"We'll explain the bad news later." the leader of the Crystal Gems replied. "But right now, we kinda have to deal with a floating City."

"I can feel the ocean beneath us..." Lapis informed. She then ran out and flew into the sky with her water wings. "I can create a hurricane to slow down the descent of the kingdom!" she stated, fading into the clouds.

"Alright, we have _that_ going for us... Now Peridot, you'll have to disarm the nuke, which in turn will float gently onto the ocean floor with Lapis' help. Later we could find the _real_ Amber Gemstone and shatter it. Or, we could do it now." Amethyst turned her head to Steven and Peridot. "Uh, I don't suppose you guys have a Gem energy _signal_ _tracker_ —whatever it's called—, do you?"

The technician groaned.

* * *

Lapis flew in between Beach City and the flying Dexterity Castle. There were twenty miles between them, and she stayed in the middle. She could see the city down there starting to panic and evacuate. She was confident that didn't need to happen.

"Alright, old friend..." she told the sea. "...let's work together now."

The ocean Gem had her arms outstretched to feel the emotion of the water, and _pulled_ from the ocean, creating a giant pillar around her. It was ginormous, towering over the cliff on Beach City, and having the radius of the average tower. She stayed there, afloat in the sky. She could sense the waters...

Calm and powerful.

She resonated with it. She spun.

And the water followed.

Lapis did it again, faster, and the ocean pillar turned into a water twister.

In a few seconds, it turned into a violent storm of water, causing dark clouds to shroud her in darkness. Thunder wrapped the skies, winds started to form, and a giant tornado covered the towering hurricane. The forces of nature were starting to act, violently crashing waves onto Beach City. Heavy clouds were apparent till the horizons, casting shadows over the cities and the sea. The ocean tides rose, the hurricane roared, and Lapis was in the middle, embracing all power over the water element she had.

* * *

The rest of the group followed Peridot's lead to the Amber Gemstone, which they found out was much closer than they thought. They all considered that, since Amber was a master planner, she would've put her Gemstone somewhere secluded. Instead, it was on the very island they stood on. They all made their way to the center of the kingdom, surrounding themselves in the shrine. They walked onto the elevated floor, noticing the direct changes in wind and cloud density in the past few seconds.

"Lapis is going to town with this one." Steven remarked, gazing at the dark sky.

"Isn't this overdoing it already?" Pearl asked. She didn't like Lapis' recklessness in the situation, and it didn't help that she hated her guts.

"According to my screen, her Gemstone should be here." Peridot informed, crouching down and moving her fingers across the center of the shrine. Her visor was filled with tons of readings. "The energy is in here..." she knocked on the floor.

"How much time do we have left?" Amethyst asked the Sapphire Gem.

"Twelve minutes." she answered.

The leader made a confused face. "You said it was eleven."

"Lapis makes the twelve minute probability rate higher." Sapphire stated, crossing her arms.

Peridot blasted off the shrine's ground. "Amber is really egotistical. According to my research, the humans made shrines to worship different types of gods. It isn't really popular since it's already deemed false, but to have a Gem image herself into a "god" to the humans seem a little too... conceited."

Steven peered down the ten feet diameter hole in the shrine that Peridot made. It was a shallow explosion, but there was still a tunnel leading deeper into Amber's plans.

"I've found the Gem you wanted." Peridot turned and started to activate her flight thrusters. "I'll make a flight to the nuke and disarm it." she nodded at Amethyst, respecting her orders.

"Nuke explodes in fifteen minutes." Sapphire warned out of the blue.

"Fif- _Fifteen_ minutes? W-Wh-What?!" Peridot stuttered, shrinking in fear. "But, I _can't_ —the nuke's too—" she sighed, "I can only disarm the nuke in _twenty_... And it'll take me one _more_ minute to get there! And what about the lead wall?!"

"Sapphire! Why..." Amethyst trailed away.

"Because from what I've seen, there's a high chance Peridot wouldn't be able to disarm it anyway. Best chance is to dispose of far away in space." Sapphire gave a dark and suspicious stare at _both_ Amethyst and Peridot. "But we need you here."

" _Why_?" Peridot demanded, stressed from the high chance of her, Steven's and the other Gems' deaths. "What could be more important than disarming an extinction-level nuclear weapon?! Or disposing it right now!"

"Your gear is essential to fighting the guards Amber had made to protect her Gemstone. We need more people in this. Since Lapis Lazuli has already gone to stop the castle from falling, which we now have an astounding sixteen minutes, we need your help. It's better than less." Sapphire informed. "Plus, you could make it. At least, it's higher than half."

"Wait, so..." Steven tried to remember what Sapphire said, playing with his fingers. "Amber's Gem isn't located anywhere on her body?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, stepping to Sapphire's side.

"Yes," Sapphire turned to the hole. "Besides, Amethyst said she'll explain it later."

Peridot was getting impatient with all the stuff that was happening. "Can we get to the part where we _hurry up and defeat those guards so I can fly into space with the nuke like a kamikaze and crash land into fourth celestial body!?_ "

"Mars?" Pearl guessed, putting a hand on her hip.

"What the heck's a _Mars_!?" the Homeworld Gem raged. "Let's go already!"

"We have to wait for Ruby." Sapphire responded.

"Ruby? But she's poofed. I think." Pearl replied worriedly, "It'll take her a while to regenerate."

A voice barked behind her, "That's my point, Pearl!" Said Gem jumped onto the ground in front of Pearl and snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. "Faster regeneration, remember? It's why I said you take too long." Ruby said.

As Ruby walked over to the hole, Amethyst remarked, "Nice cape."

"It's a proud mistake." Ruby replied, and jumped in, with Amethyst following her descent. Sapphire held onto Steven and floated into the vertical tunnel. Peridot followed, never leaving Steven out of her sight. The Gems fell to the bottom floor with a thud, Peridot's armor lighting up the gray room with green.

All that was left on the surface were Pearl and Wild Card.

The white Gem figured the Revolution sent the soldier to replace her, but she didn't care about that. There was something more important. She just saw him and the demigem in the same location.

"You _do_ know that he's... you know... your..." the Gem's eyes lingered over to the hole. She then returned her gaze towards the deadliest soldier on the planet. She mouthed the words, then raised her voice again. "... _right_?"

"I was very certain." his rugged voice replied, "But now you've confirmed my suspicions."

Pearl frowned at him. "Will you... ever be healed?"

"We both loved her." he responded, "I don't think _you've_ healed."

She looked at herself, and remembered what she had done. "Recently, I feel... more at peace. Like my burdens were taken away by someone else. Does that count as healing?"

The Wild Card merely shrugged and jumped into the hole.

Pearl stayed for a moment, looking to the thundering skies, before jumping in.

* * *

The Revolution...

"There's a... There's a giant tornado near Beach City, sir." a scientist announced to the commander. "I think Lapis Lazuli is creating it to stop the flying kingdom."

"You know what? I think I should stop thinking they're crazy. I mean, that would be highly hypocritical." Jacob replied. "But with that amount of power... in one Gem... it's dangerous to any nearby inhabitant. I think she needs a restraint."

* * *

In Amber's shrine...

Fusions.

Amber's bodyguards were fusions.

And not just any fusion, they were Opals. It was only because Amber was exposed to Amethyst's and Pearl's fusion that she thought they were the only likely candidates for this. But the force fusions weren't exactly the same. Nor were they what the Crystal Gems expected. It was just because...

They were perfect. They had complete harmony and determination to stop the Crystal Gems.

There was just one thing.

The fusees weren't as skilled or as powerful as the Crystal Gems' Amethyst and Pearl. They were weaker.

The fusions were weaker.

But that wasn't enough for the Crystal Gems to beat them. They were still... _tough_.

WHAM! Steven was sent flying across the hidden room, only to be saved by Peridot, who was busy fighting the other Opal. The mechanic was only able to grab him and gently put him on the ground, before being tackled by a rogue fusion.

"ACK!" she cried out.

"Hang on!" Steven shouted after her.

He brought out his pink shield to help Peridot, but his Opal attacked him so he used it to defend himself. Peridot was squirming in the grasp of the rogue, and fired a few energy balls to set herself free.

The Opals learned to use their weapons, and they came in form of bows and sharp grappling hooks.

Amethyst lashed out her whip at one of the fusions, and it retaliated with its grapping hook, striking her in the face. Ruby rushed in and fired a flaming gauntlet at it, resulting in a fiery explosion that hit the Opal away. The red Gem turned to her leader.

"You okay?" Ruby asked, giving her a hand.

"It hurts, but I can still stand..." she replied, taking her help. She rubbed her face, wincing at the newly-made bruise.

Ruby gave Amethyst a reassuring smirk. "You must be feeling _weird_. These are fusions of you and _Pearl_." she said, helping her up. "It's like you're fighting half of yourself. How's it feel?"

"I'm jealous that they look much buffer than _my_ Opal." Amethyst stated, curling up her whip.

"Yeah..." the fire Gem's smile faded, "...sure."

Ruby knew that Amethyst wasn't really how a normal Amethyst should look. They were twice as large, and weren't as relaxed as Amethyst. She, Pearl, Sapphire and Rose didn't have the heart to tell her she was deformed, or else it would break her down even more than with the burden she already carried. The guilt of being born.

On the other side, Sapphire nimbly leaped from floor tile to floor tile, always moving around. She dodged Opals on her way and made her way to Steven, picking him up before he got hit with a couple arrows. She twirled complicatedly in the air, narrowly missing a flying hook aimed to kill them while airborne. They landed, Sapphire holding his head down as an arrow whizzed past where his head was supposed to be.

Steven felt a bit lightheaded from the adventure. "That was... dizzying."

"Steven," the cold Gem informed, "I'm going to freeze that Opal over there," she pointed at the fusion in front of them, "and when I do that, I want you to throw your shield at it as hard as you can."

"You mean I'm going to cut them in half while they're weakened." he replied with a sarcastic stare.

"That's a simplified version of what I said." Sapphire retorted. She waved her hand and giant ice shards grew from the fusion's feet and encased itself in ice. "Now do it."

Steven gulped, pulling his shield back, before throwing with his full force. It spun as it sliced through the ice, poofing the rogue fusion.

He stuck his tongue out in disgust.

"This is cruel." he remarked.

"We have to do it. For Earth." Sapphire replied. There was a chill in her voice. "And if I remember correctly, you've done it before."

"Those were accidents!" he cried, his eyebrows furrowing into a sad look. "I can't believe my mom _knew_ this kind of stuff..."

Sapphire froze.

Quickly, she responded with, "Your mother was a great leader. She was _forced_ to know. There was no choice if she wanted to save this world."

"I know. But..." Steven instinctively rolled over the ground, dodging a couple arrows. He pulled his shield up and threw it at the rogue fusion, precisely decapitating it accidentally. He flinched, clenching his jaw in order to not scream. His teeth were feeling really painful. "...I... always thought, moms were supposed to be... not highly trained to kill on sight."

"Your mom is different." Sapphire walked up to him, inwardly impressed by his shield proficiency. But at the same time, wary about his mental health. He was just a child after all. "She's a Gem. And you're half-Gem and half-human."

Steven then wondered something strange. _Who's my dad?_

He was about to ask, but stopped himself completely since he seemed skeptical about it. Something just wasn't right.

He continued fighting the rest of the forced-fusions, running low on stamina. All the shield-making just took a toll on him. His stomach felt weird, like... it was lightheaded, in his _Gem_. Beads of sweat was peppered on his face.

 _Just keep going._

Meanwhile, Peridot had scanned the room and found out there were only five Opals left. But their Gem energy was increasing, like it was only tapping into the beginning of its potential. She decided to end this, and opened up her arm enhancers. She aimed at one of the fusions, and combined her mechanical arms together, creating a giant rail gun. Energy pulsed through the weapon, as power began to build up, green light shimmering through the metal plates.

Just then, her visor screeched.

"Wha—"

SNIKT! SHANK! Two arrows lodged themselves in Peridot's shoulder and waist. She yelped in pain, toppling over and losing her balance. The rail gun dismantled itself, and all the built-up energy just dispersed into thin air. She clenched at her shoulder, seeing her own energy spill out of her physical form.

She heard someone call out to her. "PERIDOT!"

 _S-Steven..._

CLANK! And a shield bounced on the ground next to her. She painfully picked it up, her robotic fingers slipping on the smooth surface. An Opal nocked an arrow into her bow, ready to fire. Peridot hid behind the shield, contemplating at their progress. Weren't she and the others winning? Oh well, it must've been bad luck.

 _Is this what the humans call bad luck? Or just bad planning! Why didn't I make body armor all over my torso? And why didn't I make the shoulder plates with stronger material! They shot through it like_ nothing _!_ Peridot mused.

She reluctantly pulled the arrow out of her shoulder, feeling drained of all her energy being poured out. She decided not to pull out the energy arrow in her waist, fearing that it might end her with energy loss. She grasped her shoulder, grunting as she readied a single-armed cannon on her damaged arm. She got out of her hiding spot and pointed her blaster at the fusion.

THWACK! She got hit with a grappling hook to the side of her head.

Her body went limp on the floor, vulnerable to the two Opals that attacked her. She couldn't lift her arms or legs. They were too heavy. She just laid there, panicking at the sight of the two Opals cornering her.

 _Is this the end? Oh, please, why? I don't want to be shattered yet! No no no! It wasn't supposed to end like this!_ Peridot shut her eyes. _Well, they were fusions. I guess, if I_ do _die right now, at least it took some heavy hitters and fusions. Not a cheap shot to the Gem or anything. But, chances are, I'm not going to die! I've got a_ friend _._

Peridot glanced around and saw Steven just in time to get smacked by a fusion. She got mad and felt a burst of energy help her. She tried getting up, but her visor told her that she used up too much energy.

 _Uh... I can't even protect myself. How could I protect_ Steven _?_ She looked up and saw the Opals towering her. _I'm so going to shatter today._

"PERIDOT!" Amethyst shouted, running towards her. "Hold on!"

 _The Amethyst? She's trying to help me? What do I hold on to?_

Amethyst dove into the battle by headbutting one of the Opals in the back. She lashed out her whip and kicked her at the same time, jumping over and punching the other over the head. She was kicking their butt for a second, until one of them grabbed her by the foot and slammed her onto the ground. Amethyst felt something under her crack, but she didn't care if the floor broke, she transformed into a gorilla and smacked the Opal away with her huge arms.

She went to thrash at the other one, but got a roped arrow into her forearm. She reeled in pain, clutching it away from the Opal, who tugged on the rope it tied onto the arrow, which painfully pulled out the arrow from the socket. Amethyst turned back into her base state, and rolled over to Peridot, pulling her over her back.

Even with a punctured forearm, that was no reason for a leader to not pick up her teammate. Peridot was surprised that Amethyst was even able to pull it off, but the two Opals were still not poofed yet. They were just aggravated.

"I saw you charging something big," Amethyst told her. "Do you think you can do it again?"

"Well, it's coming from my limb enhancers and not from my Gem, so yes. But I need time." Peridot informed. She really liked how Amethyst was able to save her, plan a winning strategy, and hold her own against two fusions for a while. It was crazy, she would jump into danger on a dime, like she had a death wish, but that didn't matter. Peridot was more worried that another "while" wasn't going to be enough time to charge her rail gun.

"I'll stall. You fire." Amethyst promptly ordered, and made her stand. She ran over to the fusions, having a giant grin plastered on her face. She waved her arms around like a bird flapping its wings. "Hey, right here! I'm a free kill! Kill me! I don't wanna live!"

"What's she—never mind. Charge the rail gun." Peridot grunted as she heaved her arms up, the limb enhancers opening themselves up and unifying into a rail gun. Energy brimmed from the metal as she charged up the firepower needed to eradicate the fusions.

Amethyst dodged a few grapples and some shots, but had some arrows embedded in her knee and hair.

"HAH! Are you even trying to kill me?! I swear I could do better by myself!" she taunted, sliding under an Opal's legs and cracking her whip at the other one. "You're worthless! I should just kill myself right now to show you how it's done."

Peridot noticed something weird in her dialogue. _Is she... suicidal? No, it's just an act. A very good one._

She wasn't even sure anymore.

Amethyst got struck by an arrow into her her chest, nearly missing her Gem. She was stunned, and took a huge breath with wide eyes. "That. That was close..." She turned, only to get smacked into the air by the flat side of a giant, single-bladed hook. Amethyst crashed into the wall, about to rebound off it, when the archer Opal shot her in the palms of her hands, stapling her to the side of the giant room. "But not close enough!"

Peridot was starting to get worried. Amethyst was in the face of death and wasn't showing any hints of fear. Did she want this to happen?

Her visor alerted her. _"...Seventy-five percent..."_

Amethyst felt herself losing it. She was going to either die soon, or poof. She pulled herself out of it, numbing the pain with her ignorance, and landed on the floor, stumbling a tiny bit. She felt herself getting winded by a blow to the stomach, and then shot in the shoulders with energy arrows.

"AMETHYST!" Peridot cried.

"Still okay! These guys are nothin'!" Amethyst bluffed, inwardly hurting. She couldn't feel her arms, they've taken too much damage. She transformed into a rhinoceros, and charged into a fusion, knocking it away. She felt a rope grappling her sides and pulling her harshly to the other direction, and got smashed in the eye. Amethyst screamed, reverting back to her normal form.

Peridot felt herself shrink from the brutality. Her visor alerted. _"...Eighty-nine percent..."_

"C'mon..."

"AAAAHHHHGGHHHKK!" Amethyst shouted, unable to hold it in anymore. Her whole body was bleeding, and it felt like even the air was burning her. Or, like she was getting roasted in hellfire. The two Opals were perplexed as to why she hadn't poofed yet, and smacked her across the face with their bow. Amethyst just lost her ability to speak. Her head was dizzy, with one eye she could see stars sparkling in front of her.

 _"...Ninety-six percent..."_

Amethyst was thrown onto the ground, the Opals giving her mercy and left her alone. They focused on Peridot, who didn't know had tears leaking profusely from her eyes. One of them notched a couple of arrows into place and fired at Peridot, who flinched. She didn't feel anything coming, and she felt her visor beep rapidly.

 _"...one hundred percent."_

She open her eyes widely, seeing Amethyst catch the two arrows with her body. "Hah! I am _mighty_..." the purple Gem sarcastically commented. Amethyst staggered backwards, before flopping onto the ground. Peridot gritted her teeth, pupils shrinking in rage at the rogue fusions.

"HNGR... I WILL _ERADICATE_ _YOU_!" she screamed, and fired the rail gun, producing a blast so powerful it not only poofed the fusions, but also atomized their poor Gems, and the metal walls of the room. The high-frequency wave created a giant hole through the kingdom ground, letting sunlight seep through.

Her limb enhancers smoked as she pulled them apart, letting it revert into its resting state. She rushed over to Amethyst, cradling her body in her arms. She shook her, trying to wake her up. She didn't poof, so she wasn't dead. But she was in _great_ pain.

"Amethyst? Hey, Amethyst? _Amethyst_? Come on..." Peridot called, blinking away the liquid substance in her eyes.

"Aww..." Amethyst smiled, voice hoarse. She peeked through one eye, since the other one was damaged. She could see the mechanic's tears glinting in the light, and snickered. "You've... grown... attached... to me..."

"I have _not_! I _respect_ you and, I-I'm just worried about your state! You sacrificed _so_ much!" Peridot informed. Unknown to her, everyone had defeated their Opal and huddled around the purple Gem. "It looked like you were planning to die!"

Amethyst cringed inwardly as she heard Amber's words repeat in her head. _'—go out with a bang—'_

Sapphire, Ruby and Steven looked down at the green and purple Gems. Ruby and Sapphire glanced at each other, before returning their gaze to their leader. Sapphire stepped forward, placing a hand on Peridot's shoulder. "She needs to return to her Gem and regenerate." she stated.

Peridot was about to shout something dumb, but was able to catch herself before doing so. She let herself go, and watched as Amethyst's physical body glowed white, and vanished into the Gemstone.

The mechanic picked it up.

Steven watched intently, as the Gem was his first Gem friend. He didn't even know it was Amethyst until recently, and he felt bad about it. He wanted to return the favor, but he didn't know how. Maybe next time. He looked around and saw the amount of damage caused in the room. He looked up at Peridot and noticed all the cracks and burns on her visor and limb enhancers. Oh, how this was same person was the acquaintance he had in school who made the alter ego "Perry Dott".

Steven scratched his injured arm, and asked Peridot, "Do you need... help with healing?"

"Oh, you mean... this?" Peridot asserted on the arrow lodged in her waist. She was feeling better, and she felt her energy resurface, so she pulled it out without a second thought. She thought acting like that would decrease the pain, but it was _still_ _so_ _very_ agonizing. "OWW! Just..." she breathed, "...ow."

"Do you need help?" he asked concernedly.

"I would just walk it off but I'm too much of a "pansy" to do it, so yes, please help me." she whimpered.

Steven spat on his hand and placed it on the sore spot, his spit already cooling the burns and revitalizing her physical body.

"That... wasn't so bad." Peridot remarked, surprised. "Refreshing, really." She stared at him, noticing his injuries: black eye, torn sleeve and bruises on his arm. "You don't look too normal... Wait, where's the sword I gave you?"

"Oh, that? I..." he patted his pockets, feeling empty. He felt his dignity drop. "...think I lost it."

"Ah well... it's okay." Peridot brushed a finger under his eye, wiping away dirt and dust. But his black eye was still there. "I hope _that's_ not permanent." she said. "It's doesn't look good."

"It'll heal." Sapphire reassured.

Ruby had her arms folded and was staring weirdly at how friendly the two non-Crystal Gems were. If she was correct, one of them was a Homeworld spy, but she didn't act like one. Ruby turned to Sapphire, ignoring any memory she had of her in the past and treated her as an acquaintance. "Hey, Sapph, how much time do we have till the nuke explodes?"

"Eight minutes." she responded coolly.

" _Eight_? Well, we have to get going!" Peridot exclaimed, her visor bringing up the yellow Gemstone's location.

"Strange that you're more invested in saving the world than us." Ruby muttered. She then noticed another thing. "Where's Pearl and Wildcat?"

"They're already there." Sapphire calmly informed.

"They... didn't even _help us fight the fusions?!_ " Ruby gritted her teeth, feeling betrayed that her teammate went one step ahead without doing a thing to get there. "I thought we were supposed to be a _team_! And they just bailed out on us and went _straight_ for the prize. What the hell?!"

"No need to be angry." Sapphire stated. She hovered off, following Peridot and Steven to another hidden room.

Ruby's feet started to smoke, turning the ground beneath her into ash. She looked down and kicked the dirt over it, looking around to make sure no one saw that. During these times, she always had someone to remind her that she was burning something. But... No, she didn't need her. She could take care of herself just fine. She's been doing so for the past ten years! In a _barn house_.

Ruby sighed as she traced their steps to the secret room in the secret room.

* * *

Pearl and Wild Card just stared down at the giant, golden Gem.

It was a meter wide and a foot tall, sitting on a shrine of its own.

The Crystal Gem broke her spear trying to crack it, and Wild Card's sniper rifle snapped into two when he repeatedly smashed against it with the butt of the gun. Bullets bounce off the amber, so he didn't waste his rounds on the Gem. They both thought they made a crack, so they kept hitting it with stuff. There was a small dent, but that was it.

Wild Card had the smart idea to place a grenade on top of it and stayed at a safe distance. It exploded, but didn't scratch the surface like they did with smashing objects on it. Pearl fired energy beams at it, and it didn't work.

"Her Gemstone has some kind of nonphysical resistance to our attacks. But it doesn't bode well when we hit it physically." Wild Card informed, pacing around the Gem holder. "It takes strength, not using any energy means."

"We need something indestructible." Pearl stated, "Something that won't break from too much damage." She inspected it closely. "Or maybe... it has some kind of electromagnetic or psionic field that we haven't disrupted." she tapped it, not getting a response. "Nope. Not an energy field."

"Something indestructible, hmm?" Wild Card asked. He turned to stare at the entrance of the small, circular room, and watched as the rest of their team ran inside.

"By the Diamonds!" Peridot remarked irritatedly, "She's got a shrine for herself in a hidden compartment of her own shrine. She's _really_ conceited. What are you going to tell me next, she has a "portrait" of herself hung somewhere in this room?"

"Woah!" Steven exclaimed, pointing at the giant Gemstone in the middle. "That's Amber's Gem?"

"Yes," Wild Card nodded. "We tried shattering it, but it doesn't react to any nonphysical attack..."

"Nonphysical?" the demigem repeated, curious.

"Like, energy blasts and the sorts." he explained.

Peridot walked over and scanned the crystalline rock. "So, it reacts to physical attacks." she stated, observing the small cracks and dents on it. She turned to the team. "Why don't we use Steven's shield? He could hit it with its thin edge and slice it in half."

"Hey, Pearl!" Ruby shouted furiously, but there was a bit of content in her voice. "You _asshole_! You're just gonna leave us like that? Amethyst got _shattered_!"

"Amethyst gOT WHAT?!" Pearl frantically screamed. She looked around for the purple Gem in hopes that it was a joke. She turned to Sapphire, shaking unnaturally. "Did-did she _really_..."

"It's okay. She just got poofed." Sapphire replied. "Ruby just wanted to mess with you."

At the same time, Steven walked to the center, brought out his mother's pink shield in a flash of light, and got ready to strike Amber in half. Peridot helped, holding Steven's hands with him. Wild Card just watched quietly in the corner, waiting for this whole ordeal to end.

Steven knew this was the last thing that he had to do before he could fulfill his promise to Connie. If he did this, then it'll all be over. Earth will be saved from Amber's treachery. She will get the punishment she deserved for the death of millions. Right here. Right now. Everything will be done with. Amber will be gone. _Forever_.

The demigem put in as much energy as he could muster in the strike, and made a downward slash.

CHH-TINK!

The shield made a deeper gash in the Gem, but in the expense of it... shattering into pieces.

"WHAT?!" Pearl cried, watching as the symbol of her beloved, broke into shards before her very eyes. It just went against everything she believed in. Rose had the most powerful defenses in the galaxy, and it just... broke. In one swift motion, all those wars millennia ago, this was the very same shield that took on even _larger_ threats. And it broke.

Pearl stammered.

"That... That _shield_... was... was... _unbreakable_." she informed, hands gripping at nothing.

"Well, it _has_ broken before." Steven mentioned, his frown deepening. "I was hoping, _expecting_ , it wouldn't. But I guess..."

"NO!" Pearl protested sharply, grasping tightly onto her reality, never letting it go. Steven flinched. Even if Pearl had nullified the memories with her missions in the government, Rose was still a giant part of her life. "It doesn't just _break_ —"

"Pearl!" Sapphire rebuked, causing her to snap her attention to the prophet. "Stop."

"But—"

"Stop _brown-nosing_." Ruby advised as well as insulted, arms crossed. "You're better than this. Let go of the past."

Sapphire nodded. "This is _different_. This isn't Rose Quartz." she reminded. "For what we know, the shield might be weaker because Steven possesses it. Or, it could be triggered by some strong emotion because of his human side." she added the last part abruptly and suspiciously. Pearl glanced at Wild Card at the human part.

Ruby glared at the icy Gem. "Stop... _doing_ that."

"Doing what?"

"Continuing my statements." the hotheaded Gem replied, shuffling her feet awkwardly. "It's weird."

"Well," Peridot began, "Now, we have to find a way before... how many minutes are left?"

"Five minutes."

"Stars and space, how am I going to accomplish sending the nuke to space now?"

"It doesn't have to be just you." Steven informed, looking up at her.

"Please, the Sapphire already sealed my fate. She keeps asserting that _I_ would send the nuke on its way." Peridot replied out loud. She knew of her oracle-like powers. Sapphires were _incredibly_ rare in her studies of Homeworld, and all of them had the uncanny ability to foresee the future. Or according to what she read, multiple alternate routes to decisions.

Everyone subtly glanced at Sapphire and just returned to their business.

"What if we charged our energy to R—uh, _Steven's_ shield?" Ruby asked out of the blue. She then looked at the cerulean cyclops. "I mean, it's worth a shot. It could be that Rose and Steven have different ways of their powers, and Rose wanted this sort of thing to happen, because—let's face it—it would totally be a thing she would want us all to do. She wanted to show everyone that we're better united. Thus, she made a group attack specifically for Steven that'll be our ultimate trump card. So what if she... I don't know, just did that?"

A part of Steven felt like it was actually true, regardless how dim the chances of it making sense were. But it did give him a sense of hope. He was more intrigued by his mother now, since there were a group of people that knew her firsthand. And by how goofy and silly this theory sounded, if it was true, he wanted to know _more_ about his strange mom.

"It's a long shot." Pearl replied skeptically.

"I believe in it." Sapphire proclaimed.

"If you do, it means it _works_." Peridot stated bitterly at the prophet, turning to Steven. "Steven, bring up your shield. We need to hurry and test this out."

" _Okay_..." the demigem brought out his shield again, inwardly feeling drained. For the past week, he's been making constructs of the same shield over a hundred times that it's gotten to him like a heat wave.

Sapphire, Ruby and Pearl got into place, forming a circle around the lone pillar of Amber's shrine. They put out their outstretched hands and channeled their Gem energy to the shield, their wispy auras swirling over to it. Peridot followed them, since she had no idea how to do it beforehand, and picked out the Amethyst Gem, and both of them had their energy being delivered to Steven. The pink shield flashed colors of blue, red, white, green and violet, before turning back to its pink hue.

BOOOM! It lit the room up brightly, overcharged with the energy from five Gems. It started morphing, its thorns elongating into spikes on the shield, and the triangle blinking white. The shield began shaking, bursts of power exploding out of its center. Power kept spiraling out, crashing into the ceiling and into walls. The energy was untiring, and its weight was getting more unstable, its power going off the charts.

The shield was reinvigorating him at the same time, giving him the strength to control it. "Uh..." he trailed off.

 _Steven! Aim it at Amber!_ Rose shouted excitedly from his mind.

The demigem recognized her voice, and pointed the bright shield at the Gemstone. Everyone watched intently as the room grew dark. Electricity began coursing through the shield, a rainbow aura building up to the middle.

 _Say something cool!_

"Uh... RAINBOW FLASH!" Steven shouted, and the shield burst open.

* * *

The Revolution...

"Major spike in energy levels detected." someone informed, tapping at the screen. "It's even bigger than anything we've seen so far. And it's still skyrocketing."

Jacob looked at the ground. "Send in reinforcements. Secure a perimeter around Beach City."

"That's not the nuke..." a scientist piped up. "The energy emitted isn't full of radiation. It's something else... undiscovered..."

* * *

Lapis watched as the flying kingdom began nearing her twister of death.

Her eyes widened as she saw a flurry of fireworks emitted in the castle, destroying bits and pieces of it in the process. There was a strong pink light that was discharged from it, and it was so strong the winds changed direction from it even from a mile away.

 _I hope whatever they're doing is essential._ Lapis thought. _Please be safe, Steven._

* * *

FFWWWAAAAASSHHHHHH!

Light enveloped the whole town, blinding the team from what just happened.

Groggily, they all rose from the debris, not aware of how it got there. Or how they were flat on their butts just now. They pushed scattered fragments of the structure off their heads, seeing how the roof collapsed on them. Peridot's visor beeped with yellow lights displaying in front of her eyes, while she was just laying on the ground. Pearl stood up, looking around and finding Ruby toss a wall of brick forty feet away from her. Sapphire got out, hovering on the broken ground like it was just an ocean of water to her.

They were all standing in a giant, rectangle crater. The whole floor was leveled. Or actually, they just destroyed the supports for the ground above them, so it just came crashing down the hidden room and shrine. A whole layer of concrete and dirt, all dropped above their heads. But they were surprisingly on the top layer of damaged structures, because most of the ground got vaporized by the light.

Across them, Steven was fine and unharmed, handling an exploding shield on side of his arm. He was just looking down at the ground, defeated.

They all followed his gaze, and found the Amber Gem, shattered. But not destroyed.

It was broken into five pieces.

The only way to kill Amber. And with the might of their combined strengths, they were only able to... keep her from regenerating. She was still there, her mere presence mocking them, but she couldn't wreak havoc anymore. At least, not directly.

"Damn..." Ruby murmured, "... _so close_..." But her solemn expression turned into a laugh. "...but it worked!"

"She's shattered." Pearl stated, "At least, we got what we wanted. But not how we'd... envision it."

"Sapphire..." Peridot moaned, coughing. She sat up from the garbage littered around her. "...how much time..."

"Three minutes." she stated.

"Need to get to the nuke..." Peridot muttered, a burning fire in her. It was her only job in this mission, and if she didn't do it, then she'd lose her reputation as a Peridot. Plus, the Sapphire already doomed her, so what's the point of not doing it? If she didn't the world's surface would be erased, and that meant Steven and Lapis.

"Perry, you said something about a lead wall, right?" Steven asked, jumping in short bursts towards her. He helped her up, and dusted small fragments of concrete from her body. Peridot shook her head, trying to get her mind straight. She stared at the shield Steven had, and it was still glowing with power.

"...Yeah..."

"I can break it." he stated.

"Hold on." Peridot repeated what Amethyst said, and turned to Sapphire. She opened her limb enhancer, and popped out a purple Gemstone. She stared at it, enough time for her arm enhancer to close. "Hold this." the mechanic ordered, and held out an amethyst to Sapphire. The prophet took it gently, and Peridot turned to Steven, sighing. "Okay, Steven, you ready?"

"Well..." Steven shifted the weight of his shield a bit, its appearance looking like it was sucking the life out of reality itself. He then held out his right hand, waiting for Perry to shake it. "...ready as I'll ever be... _friend_."

Peridot didn't get it.

Then, she did.

And with a growing smirk, she took his hand. She could feel the team's combined energy from the shield, coursing through her forearm. "Not an acquaintance anymore?"

"I gotta give you some respect for saving the world, right?" he told her with a grin.

She shrugged, "I dunno about that."

"Two minutes." Sapphire warned.

BBJHOOOOOOOMMM! The earth shook, and the land started tilting. Dust and pebbles were starting to rise.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, almost thinking it was the nuke.

"Lapis is destroying the flight thrusters of the kingdom, so she can stop it from flying." Sapphire informed, "Bye bye, Dexterity Castle." she turned to the Team Gem Squad members. "Better get going."

They nodded. Peridot activated her flight thrusters and the two soared to the nuclear weapon with a wide arc of light. She carried Steven one-armed, only holding his hand as she didn't have time to adjust a more careful position. They landed into a hole in the roof of an archaic building, standing in front of a metal vault. There was a timer on it, and it already passed the two minute mark.

"Crap. She was right." said Peridot. "There _is_ a timer."

The demigem struck the metal wall with just one punch, and it violently broke off its hinges. The energy coursing through him was from the shield, and it had the power of six highly-proficient Gems. Much more powerful than Peridot's limb enhancers.

The technician stared at the vulnerable nuclear bomb. "Well then, this is it..."

"You're going to dispose that in space." Steven looked in wonder.

"I have to do something to negate its radioactive effects as well. It _is_ a _nuclear_ weapon after all." Peridot informed, "I'll need to go even farther to diminish the radiation contact on Earth. This might be a one-way trip." She solemnly glanced at the demigem, taking one last look at her friend. "Sorry, Steven."

"I don't believe that." he replied, rubbing his eyes. "You're going to make it."

"I've always wanted to go out on a high note." she joked.

"No, you're not." he held out a sob. It was happening so fast. First second, they were smiling about winning, next second, one of them was going to sacrifice their life to save the world. And Steven didn't want that. He didn't want to lose someone forever. He couldn't grasp such concept. "You _are_ going to make it. I'll make sure of it."

Peridot heaved the nuke over her shoulder, using the strength of her limb enhancers to support its weight. "If you can, I want you to block th radiation coming from the bomb. I think you can enlarge your shield. It's stronger now." Wistfully, she took on one knee and stared Steven into his hurting eyes. "I know it's hard. You humans can't adapt to changes very well. But you're half-Gem, you can move on." she sighed, needing to get something out of her chest. "I want you to know... You, Steven, are the most wonderful person I've ever met. It's conflicting, really. I'm supposed to spy on you... And now, I'm... going against my own personal mission to save you. I want to thank you. For everything you've done..."

"You, Peridot, are the smartest person I've ever known. And you're welcome, and thanks." Steven gloomily responded, hugging her tight. "For being in my life."

Peridot didn't know what to do in the grasp of the boy, but let him do it. She glanced at the timer, noting the time, and patted the boy on the shoulder. Steven stopped the hug and stepped back. She gave one last smile and salute, before her leg enhancers burst with energy and she rocketed into the sky.

As the wind hit her face, she was having second thoughts about it.

Clouds were in her way, and she got out of them as soon as she struck it.

It was too late to turn back now.

Now she was staring into the sky. Deep space.

One minute left.

Stars were starting to glimmer in the vast universe.

The pitch-black and navy colors swirling into the sky-blue horizon.

The air was getting thinner.

She left the stratosphere.

It was starting to chill.

* * *

Lapis struck the next flight propulsion machine with a giant spike of water.

The flying kingdom was slowly crashing into her twister, and boulders had already started flying up. She could see glints of light: poofed Gems. All swirling upwards into her own tornado, and into the sky.

She watched as they faded in the clouds.

Lapis concentrated as she used the ocean's mass to help stabilize the falling castle. There was a giant wave, which held up the kingdom. More pillars of water rose from the turbulent ocean, holding the kingdom up in the air so it wouldn't come crashing down and create another giant tsunami. She struggled under the weight of Dexterity Castle, as it started splitting up into multiple pieces.

The thundering clouds started swirling around the hovering castle. Roaring with electricity. Lapis twisted her hands around, and thin, giant water structures twisted around the cracked landmass, holding it together. She thought it would lessen the collateral damage.

She broke the third rocket engine, and it was starting to lose more altitude. The strain was getting on her, she had to maneuver the kingdom so it wouldn't just crash into the ocean. Slowly and gently.

She glanced back, and Beach City was nearer than she thought. Did she back up while bringing down the castle? That would explain why it took so long to get to her.

The ocean Gem focused back on the hundred megaton island. Water chains started to wrap itself around the kingdom, and the water pillars turned into hands holding onto it. They descended into the sea, with an altitude of just under ten thousand feet.

She felt something snap inside her.

After this.

What's next?

Does Steven go back with the Crystal Gems? Does she get punishment for kidnapping a kid for a decade?

 _"See you soon, Lazuli. I hope to see how you're gonna keep your peace."_

She shook as she heard Amber's voice in the back of her head.

 _No no... Don't let her get to you, Lapis, you're better than that... She's dead to me, to you, to_ everyone _. She has no power. She has no justification. She just warps your mind... and turns you into what she wants._

 _A monster. A_ pawn _._

 _Trapped._

As she continues to ponder the very end of her existence, she couldn't help but think this whole scenario was what Amber wanted. She wanted them to lose. And Lapis didn't feel like she won. At all. She gained nothing good from this. She gained the burden of her most hated enemy, had to painfully save the world, and she was eventually going to lose Steven to the Crystal Gems.

It was a potential loss.

 _Is this what she wants?_

 _If I think the other way, maybe that's what she wanted too._

 _Dammit, Lapis, she's getting into your head. She can't possibly plan everything. Can she?_

* * *

After watching Steven and Peridot blast off to another part of the city, Sapphire watched her teammates discussing a way to get out of here and they left the falling castle, by leaping off the the edge. As if that's going to do anything. You can't "fall faster", it doesn't work like that. Pearl would know, Ruby would partially know. So why jump off?

Through her vision, she could see Lapis holding up the flying fortress, so they _did_ fall faster.

Hmm.

She checked her visions and tried to find Steven. After watching herself get no results and have Steven dead, she finally had one where she found Steven. Remembering the route, she hovered off the cracking ground and flew over rooftops to get to the place.

She had to admit, there were a lot of roofs made of clay. Or brick.

Anyway, Sapphire made it to a roof with a giant hole in it, and floated down. She was able to find Steven with the unified shield, and felt every Gems' energy emanating from it. There were wisps of color smoking from the pink shield. She could feel hers. She could feel Garnet. Just in a mix of Ruby's energy and her energy.

"Steven," Sapphire said, "We have to get out of here. The whole castle is going to break apart, one way or another."

"Yeah..." the demigem replied, staring into the empty lead container. He stood up, holding his shield on his arm. "Quick question... how many seconds are there left before the nuke explodes?"

"Eleven."

"I'm going to block the radiation emitted from the nuke. Peridot told me I can." Steven informed, holding out his shield. "Can you do one thing?

"I'm guessing it's to save Peridot from reentering the Earth's atmosphere."

"So she survives?"

* * *

Vacuum.

Her limb enhancers weren't sprouting any heat.

Just force.

Pushing her and the nuke.

Further into space.

It was completely silent.

There was no sound.

As it can't travel in a vacuum.

And since it's a vacuum.

There's no drag force.

No stopping her inertia.

So she's just accelerating.

Faster.

And faster.

And the nuke was ticking down.

Counting down seconds.

She could see all the other solar systems and galaxies from here.

She could see Earth.

So far away.

She was all alone.

In space.

With a bomb.

Only seconds left to spare.

Her visor flashed lights.

Emergency electromagnetic shields.

She wondered if she'll ever be missed.

If Yellow Diamond will care if she died out here.

If she failed the mission she had taken from Homeworld.

It would be easier than coming back empty-handed.

But what about Steven?

He has Connie.

Nothing to worry about.

The nuclear bomb hasn't done anything for a while.

Then.

Boom.

* * *

It was safe to assume someone was crazy, because as soon as a light glinted in the sky, Steven was falling.

Radiation traveled at the speed of light.

So, Steven went to some preemptive measures and brought out the shield before the nuclear explosion happened. In case, he wasn't able to do it when he saw a sign of the nuclear explosion, because when a light shines, it reached your eye, and that's how fast the radiation would travel. The unified shield grew in the sky, covering a part of the Earth with its pink glow.

He strove to cover as much of the world as possible from the deadliest nuclear explosion ever made on the planet. At this point, his shield expanded over the span of several countries, reaching to cover over a continent.

He was several miles above land, and that number was decreasing with every second. Extremely.

But he wasn't showing fear.

He wasn't scared or anything.

He was concentrated on protecting humanity.

If Peridot risked her life to save billions of people, then why can't he?

Plus, Sapphire had to have known something if she was confident Steven wasn't going to get killed by this fall.

He felt his Gem starting to waver, but it miraculously kept pouring on energy.

How long did he have to keep going on?

He should've asked that question...

* * *

Sapphire was in space, racing towards the explosion.

Radiation couldn't hurt her. It just decays substances over time, all she had to do was regenerate and it'd be over. Or, she could have an ever forming ice shield to absorb the radiation impact. Which she did.

She was accelerating, going faster and faster in this place of no drag force.

And then, after a minute, she spotted it.

Somehow, Peridot didn't poof.

Upon closer inspection, she had an electromagnetic bubble around her.

It started dissipating after a few seconds, and now her body was just floating around. Her limb enhancers seemed completely useless, since it was burned and, if she was correct, the circuits were fried.

If she weren't here, Peridot would've been floating in space forever.

If it weren't for Steven...

If it weren't for his human side to not be able to adapt to the changes...

 _Hah. Peridot, you smart fool._ Sapphire thought.

As Steven asked, she took the technician in her arms, and looked back at Earth, noticing a pink circle on it.

 _It's been... a minute..._ Sapphire inwardly stated, smirking. _I'm sure Rose is proud. If she weren't already._

* * *

Pearl and Ruby had dove into the ocean waters and were floating on the ocean.

They could see that the sky had turned pink.

Pearl stared in amazement. Rose had never done something like this before. It was a sight to behold. Never in her life had she seen something as... _beautiful_ as this. It was a defensive weapon, and now it was covering up the whole world like it was a new phenomenon that's going to happen regularly.

Pink skies.

She amused herself thinking about how the humans are to explain it. _"Unfathomable"._

Ruby wanted to say something to tease Pearl, like a remark about letting go of Rose. But she couldn't think of any words right now. She was wondering what the hell was going on up there.

* * *

Steven was still falling.

He was pretty high up in the sky too, so it was expected he's still dropping. He already reached terminal velocity.

The shield was still operating.

The story was that Sapphire dropped him off in the heavens so that she could pick up Peridot, and that _he_ needed to get to a higher place to better activate his shield. So, naturally, he thought this would kill two birds with one stone.

He could feel the breeze through his limbs, causing him to feel microgravity. The wind roared in his ears, and the only other thing he could hear was his blood pulsing.

The sky was pink.

It was a strange thing to see. The unified shield stretched to the ends of the Earth, or at least the corners of his eyes. It felt unreal. Everyone on the planet was going to see this. They're going to observe the beauty, and he's the one who did it. He was a ten year-old boy, who grew up on the streets, and he caused such a worldwide event. Everyone would recognize the patterns of this shield.

He's going to be a global hero.

Wouldn't that be what his mother wanted?

For some reason, he felt joy. He was ecstatic. Something in him just gave him a burst of happiness.

And, that's when he realized.

It's over. They won.

Amber's gone.

Gone was the dreaded tension in the air. Gone was the stress of life-risking danger and the responsibility of saving a whole world from a malevolent, sinister, extinction-level threat. Gone was the personification of... evil? A godly tyrant.

The antagonist of his story was gone.

There's nothing to worry about.

Just the unified shield, absorbing the radiation to protect the lives of billions. And if he wavered, everything would decay on the face of the planet. His shield was magic, it could nullify the radiation from the nuclear blast. Radiation has a half-life, so it's always there, except the amount of radioactivity would lessen as time passes on. His shield fuses with the radioactive energy and diminishes the half-life into nothingness. So, he was protecting the world.

Steven was starting to see stars. His head felt lighter. And he could feel his muscles _burn_.

He was going to pass out.

Suddenly, after three whole minutes, the Earth's magical pink defense started to dissipate, creating holes in itself and turning into thin air. The pink skies were over.

The demigem felt drained.

In his darkening sight, he saw the shadow of an angel. Her body and wings were blocking out the sun, and was moving fast. After him.

 _Dark._ He thought.

The angel quickly caught up with him, and reached out for his hand.

He spiraled into the clouds, descending in altitude. But through it all, the angel pushed the clouds away with a wave of her arm and put on a burst of speed. She reached him, staring him in the eye. There was a smirk. Steven's heavy eyes were still able to identify the person in front of him.

"Lapis!" he exclaimed.

"Yup, buddy, you guessed right." she replied, glancing at the ocean they were headed. It was getting closer. "You did _fantastically, splendidly, magnificently_..."

Lapis thought that if she unexpectedly ended their fall, Steven would probably die from the sudden stop. She pulled him in a hug and slowed their upside-down plummet, until they were no longer falling. They were about a few feet from the sea.

The most powerful Gem on the planet rotated themselves so that they were right-side up. She floated over the ocean, carrying her little baby, who snuggled against her jacket. Lapis brought them to the sandy shore of Beach City, where Pearl, Ruby and Wild Card were waiting. The two Crystal Gems were soaked.

They won.

It was finished. All of it.

The terrors were over.

Amber's gone.

From above, Sapphire hovered onto the shore, with Peridot by her side. The technician had her limb enhancers fried and her armor completely gone, but she did have a purple Gem in her hand. Sapphire gave it back for her.

Wild Card saw that the Revolution army had set up a perimeter around the Crystal Temple and Beach City. And he, vanished into the background without anyone seeing.

Ruby and Sapphire were both admiring the Team Gem Squad for their shared victory, and their qualities. The two polar Gems shared a glance at each other, one of them having a longing look and the other a hated one. Even when it was over, and Steven was finally back... It wasn't their Steven. Sapphire accepted him. But Ruby was inwardly mad about it.

Pearl watched as the rest of the heroic Gems were celebrating victory, but she felt left out. She was decommissioned for the whole thing, and stayed as a... _corrupted_ Gem. She saw the happy expressions of her friends and _enemies_ , even when they weren't trying to look joyous. But what about the other Gems? The ones that poofed? And the castle that had sunken in the ocean? It might still be active.

And then, she decided, to become her own confidant. She'll keep her own secrets to herself, and operate in secrecy. But that would mean, she would need to quit being a Crystal Gem, the team Rose Quartz made...

Well, choices need to be made.

For the greater good.

For a better world.

And for that, she left them.

And they didn't notice.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh my gosh! It's finally done! Hours** **of writing finally done!**

 **It's finally _finished_!**

 **YES! VICTORY! WEEEEE!**

 **To celebrate this _really_ long and convoluted finale, I'm going to reveal an (not so) _ancient_ secret I've been hiding in plain sight. If you look at the first letters of Chapter Titles 15-19, they spell out "AMBER". The same could be done with the prologue and first three chapters of this story, which spell out "PAST" (which was coincidental, I only planned the Amber one lol).**

 **On another note, I feel grateful to have all of you here enjoying the story. I mean, there's like over a hundred of you guys and it's splendid to me that I'm able to keep people interested in this. I'm not great with gratitude because IRL I'm not really a people-person. I'm shy as heck. Nevertheless, I'm still grateful that you're all reading this. I didn't think it would get this popular honestly. It was a crack at a different AU.**

 **Thank you for being supportive in this journey, giving this story favorites, follows and reviews. And I'm sure you're wondering, is the story going to end soon?**

 **Erm... No.**

 **Unfortunately, despite my constant screaming that it's finished, my brain is coming up with ideas and there already are plans set in motion. So, more stuff for you to read in the future. More original (some probably unintentionally stolen) ideas: I'm going to adapt _The_ _Cluster_ arc and _Yellow Diamond_ arc (both in the far future) and turn it into _something else entirely_. Yay...**

 **And on that note...**

 **Thank you.**

 **From the bottom of my heart.**

 _(P.S. You don't have to listen to Matt Quantiny. He just spoils the fun.)_

* * *

 **Breaking News: Gems are raining from the sky.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Full Disclosure"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **SHDUO SODQV DQG OHDGV WKH JHP UHJLVWUDWLRQ DFFRUGV** **"**


	21. Special: Official Power Rankings

**A/N: This is that special chapter I deleted. Now, it's going to be stapled here permanently.**

 **I've edited the list heavily for what's canon to this story and planned. It's now to show expendable and potential _power_. Just physical or energy-like power. Not including special fighting abilities.**

* * *

 **Official list of power rankings in this story for public viewing:**

 **This is a list of people's latent ability to expend all their energy in a one-shot. This list also might contain content from the future. Anyone can be beaten with skill, tactic, strategy, life hacks, cheat items, teamwork, plot-induced stupidity, or smarts. So, if you used this as a guide for the future chapters, you're gonna be mad at me about the continuity. So, please don't.**

(Edited: 14/7/2016) sshhh, don't tell anyone. I only edited the list! Now, it's just the amount of power that characters can back up. _And_ (maybe) their cheat items or abilities! So, it's at their peak! Also,  underline for characters not yet integrated prior to chapter 19 until, uh... whenever. " _italics_ " for fusions.

 ** _Rank Z (Solar-Buster)_**

55 Cancri E

 _"The Core Cluster"_

 ** _Rank S (Planet-Buster)_**

 _"Jet"_

Yellow Diamond

 _"Hypr (Hyperion)"_

Emerald

Lapis Lazuli

 ** _Rank A (Continent-Buster)_**

 _"Sugilite"_

 _"Garnet"_

 _"Opal"_

 _"Stevonnie"_

Amber

Pyrite

Rose Quartz

Hematite

Obsidian

 ** _Rank B (Moon-Buster)_**

Jasper

Amethyst

 _"Megaruby"_

Howlite

Milky Quartz

Peridot

Ruby

Spinel

Steven

Bloodstone

 ** _Rank C (Mountain-Buster)_**

Kyanite

Jade

Black Pearl

Lion

Onyx

Sapphire

Pearl

Moonstone

Berry

Beryl

Perry Dott

'Wild Card'

 **If I added skill, this would be a _whole_ other list. Because it mostly varies. And so does this list. But it's just to show an example of what some of the Gems are capable of.**

 **"Peridot" is if she has her sweet limb enhancers. "Perry Dott" is if she doesn't. If you were confused.**

* * *

 ** _Stuff regarding The Cluster story arc:_**

 **The Cluster I have in plan is going to be very, _very_ different to what we know in the series. Because it's an AU. Things happen differently here. I'm going to explain how I'm going to make it play out, so that none of you get confused to why it's strangely different than the series in how they're going to deal with the Cluster.**

 **So... I'm going to tease it?**

* * *

Five years later...

"So, this tower... it leads to the Cluster?" Steven asked, interrogating the single, yet countless, Gem in front of him. He was standing alone to the side of a red... watchtower. It wasn't that tall, but he knew that under in it was a gateway to the Cluster that was thousands of miles deep in the ground. There were giant, brown double gates on the front, for everyone to enter. But standing there in his way was a clustered Gem.

"Core is his name..." the clustered Gem replied. It had shiny, metal armor and a dense-looking shield. It didn't shine, but it looked heavy. The knight didn't have a sword, "And I am its creation, _Aes_ , the cluster of matter. I have control of over my realm of sorcery, which is to create matter out of _nothing_. You won't be able to go through my floor. We just need to stall you. And even if you did beat me, I assure you, the next ones won't be as easy."

"I'm informed that the Cluster is draining out life on this planet." Steven looked to the side, admiring the lush green trees and grass. He then glared back at the Gem cluster. "Is this true?"

"In twenty-five hours... this planet is going to explode. That's why we're just for stalling. You knew our presence and he activated us to stop you from getting to him." Aes responded dramatically. He excitedly put out a fist. "Core will suck up enough energy from the Earth to materialize his physical form. And then, you won't stop him! Because he's literally going to be a personification of a _planet_. His energy and mass would be just as large as this world. All centered into _one_ person."

"Then I'll have to beat you and your friends. After that, I shatter the Core before the clock runs out." the most powerful demigem informed, condensing his unified shield. "Easy as that. Better start now."

He charged at Aes, who clashed shields with him. The two crashed through the gates, splintering the wooden doors and sliding onto the checkered, marble floor. Steven was kicked into the golden walls of the cylindrical tower, cracking it with his back. The demigem recovered from the attack and leaped at him with a burst of energy.

His adrenaline kicked in, and he made a wide smack to the helmet with the pointed edge of his shield. Aes bounced back from it and merged a sword out of thin air, slicing the air beside Steven. The wind slash made a sharp cut a few hundred feet from where the weapon was at. The golden walls broke apart from each other, revealing the land outside which was also cut into a giant ravine.

 _If I was hit by that, I'd be dead._ Steven thought.

"Now, to tell you something... I've got six other pals much more stronger than me. Surrender now, and you will go. I'm merciful. The others, not so much..." Aes told him, "There's also a few guys who're immortal, so if you _did_ get pass me, _good for you_. Have your fun. Or just walk out right now, and enjoy the rest of the day."

"Not when the entire world is in danger." Steven panted. He clenched a fist. "I won't lose!"

The demigem charged at Aes, who swung his sword at him.

* * *

 **That will be the plot of the Cluster.**

 **It's going to be _really_ different.**

 **From the show _and_ this story. Because showing you this thing counts as a spoiler, no doubt. (Also, this is actually just a test to see if any of you would be interested in this. Because I was. And I say "was" because I literally read a plot like this months ago. I liked it. It was great.)**

 **The only things that are canon to this story are: the name Aes, the other clustered Gems, the Core Cluster and the info given.**

 **It's an adaptation. Adaptations are never the same. If it was the same, then you'll be reading about Steven and the squad drilling their way to the Cluster and killing it before it even hatches.** (Steven bubbled it, past me. Why would they kill it on public TV? Or maybe I was being sarcastic.)

 **I think this one's worth reading. If there's a majority of people who dislike the idea, then I'm gonna call it nonsense because I can't think of anything else. (Unless I merge two major arcs together. But that would be too OP) The show has visuals which I don't, so I think this is the next best thing.**

 **So, uh, I'm going to end this blog here and continue writing "Full Disclosure".**

 **Have a nice week for the rest of the time because it's December, and you know what that means?**

 **Star Wars: The Force Awakens.**

 ***hears whispers* What's that? There's something more important than that that's coming in December?**

 **Oh, yeah... It's going to be 2016. We're gonna need to celebrate that.**

 **I'm kidding, an advance Merry Christmas to you guys! If I wasn't able to update anywhere in that time.**

 **(I'm probably not going to watch Star Wars because my family members didn't watch it, and I haven't either. I already know the plot and all that because I've seen parts of it and pieced it together. Please don't flame me or lose interest or anything.)**


	22. Chapter 20: Full Disclosure

**A/N: New arc, new cover. Let's get this going! :)**

 **I see no one is against the Cluster thing. Looks like it's going to happen. Eventually... *three years later***

 **Warning: around 10k words long. and sixty percent of it is backstory.  
**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 20: _Full Disclosure_**

* * *

 _Did we win?_

 _Of course we did._

 _I saw it._

 _I did it._

 _We won._

 _The Earth is safe._

 _I kept my promise._

 _To everyone._

* * *

Steven's heavy eyelids opened up, his vision bright and blurry.

All he could see were flares of white and blue. He blinked tiredly, focusing a bit. He could listen to the beeping noise to his side. This isn't his room. He never had something beeping on his desk. And, his room wasn't so white. So, where was he?

He grew tense, suspicious of where he was at, when his mind finally went to work and uncovered the finer details of where he was at.

He could see windows to the hallways with white blinds, blue curtains, gray ceiling, white bedsheets and a white door. From his perspective, he seemed to be in someone else's bed. But on second thought, there were people in white coats and green suits walking and jogging around the hallways. If he was right, those were doctors and nurses. So that must mean...

He's in a hospital bed.

He tried to focus on why he was lying in here, then instantly remembered he dealt with a final stand against Amber. There was a flying city, a giant hurricane, a nuclear explosion, a superpowered army, an outstanding shield, and a _lot_ of exhaustion.

A smile stretched on his face, as he relived every moment of that ordeal. He didn't even know why he felt like laughing. Was it because he was overzealous that they won? Because he wanted to celebrate their triumph against an extinction-level event? Or was it because... he's alive, and he fulfilled his promise to...

 _Connie?_ He thought, looking to his side and finding the sleeping girl, sitting on a chair beside his bed.

He blinked, before grinning like an idiot again. He looked down at himself, and piped up.

"I told you I promised."

Connie suddenly woke from her slumber, glancing at Steven with wide eyes. Their gaze connected, one of them full of joy and the other full of surprise. She slowly opened her mouth to say something, but it broke into a grin as well, unable to transfer her emotions into words.

So, she showed it.

Steven began to chuckle, then laugh heartily. Connie followed. And the two enjoyed their moment, laughing and giggling at themselves uncontrollably. They couldn't form words. None of them wanted to talk. They just wanted to laugh everything away. All their dread and despair a few days back, it was all gone. They were worried about nothing now. All their fears were gone and nothing could stop them from having this moment.

Then, Steven stopped, wiping his tears away. He was still giggling, with a huge smile on his face, watching Connie be _full_ of joy. He remembered how sad she sounded back then, but now she was full of happiness and hope. Something Steven loved hearing from others. Hope.

Connie's laughter faded when she heard none coming from her best friend. She looked over at him, confused at why he stopped. When she saw his cute smile and eyes watching her, she understood. He was enjoying the moment.

It was peaceful.

The Earth was safe.

He didn't break his promise.

"Yeah, you did promise." Connie continued. "You delivered. I'm impressed."

" _Impressed_?" Steven raised a brow, his smile unwavering.

"You are an _awesome_ friend, Steven." Connie remarked, leaning on his bed. "Don't let _anyone_ tell you otherwise."

He blushed, "Aw, _Connie_ , that's too much."

Connie felt her face growing hotter. "It is?" she asked, thinking she stepped into the wrong zone. She desperately tried to get out of it quick.

"Mm..." The demigem looked up at the ceiling, before returning his gaze at her. "Nah. I change my mind." he ended with a cheeky smile. Looking around, he noticed that she was the only one with him. "Where's everyone else?"

Connie made a pained expression, like saying it would wound her. "Work." She walked to the other side of the bed, picking up a ziplock bag that had chocolate sandwiches in it. She gave it to Steven, her mood shifting back to joy. "Lapis made these in case she wasn't here when you wake up."

"Chocolate sandwiches!" Steven shouted excitedly. He chuckled as he remembered the last time she made them. "She promised me she'd make this if I was a good boy! And that was a month ago!"

"When school started?" Connie giggled.

"Yep!" Steven took a bite out of the chocolate-filled sandwich. His eyes turned into stars as he reminisced the taste. "It's as gooey and as sweet as I remembered!"

"I like her cookies." Connie admitted, "Much more tidy."

"Well, yeah... but I've got a sweet tooth." Steven replied.

"And I have to check on what I eat. My parents don't want me eating too much fatty food." she said, crossing her arms and dimly looking away. "Never mind that, I want to hear how you guys beat Amber."

"Well, it's complicated... probably over a _hundred_ _thousand_ words long..."

"I have time." Connie rested her head on her arms, and leaned against the railing of the white bed. It got him thinking, why did she have time? Why isn't she in school? What day is today?

"Is today a holiday?" Steven asked innocently.

She stared miserably at the white space of the bed. "To mourn the loss of millions..."

"Oh..." The demigem felt the weight of the situation hit him like a train. "...right..."

Connie sighed audibly.

"Do you still want to listen? I mean... it's just as... depressing..." Steven asked worriedly. He decided to brighten the state of the room. "But, I did cause a global _phenomenon_..."

Her interests raised significantly. "Hm?"

"Do you know the pink skies that covered the whole world?"

"Oh, that one... Wait, _you_ did it?"

"Yeah, I know! It was so cool! I was falling through the skies!"

"You were falling and making your shield that big?"

"Yeah! Perry sent the nuke into space and it exploded there."

" _No way!_ Perry? As in, _our_ Perry?"

"Yeah, _Perry_! Who else?"

"But why were you falling?"

"Well, I thought I needed to be higher up in the sky..."

* * *

Hours later...

"...but Spinel dropped a building on me! I got outta there as quick as I could, and got the laser sword Perry made me—"

"I'm starting to think you're making this up. I mean, a whole _building_? I don't think you could get out of that "quickly"."

"It was _really_ old and ancient."

Steven and Connie had been conversing for a whole two hours, going hot on a topic about the magical world of Gems. So far, Connie had been updated on what Steven knew of what happened throughout all of Amber's fiascos. The fight of a Gem fusion and Amber, Lapis creating a giant hurricane, Steven fighting a few Opals alongside the Crystal Gems, Perry's "awful crushing" on Amethyst, working with the Revolution, the experience of microgravity and standing on a floating kingdom. Steven was a wonderful storyteller to Connie, and she was so mystified by the magical world he's involved in. She felt special to even sit near him, or be his best friend.

It was so unnatural.

The opportunity to be with him was _extraordinarily_ rare. And she had that opportunity, to be the friend of the only demigem in the universe. To be given interesting stories that are factual and real, not fictional, yet still unbelievable. To be in the presence of someone so pure of heart...

It made it all the more precious.

"So... Was it exciting to fight in a battle?" Connie asked, a little too eagerly.

"A bit. Mostly dread. Because, you know... you could die at any given moment." he said really fast. "But I had my mother's reflexes, so I kinda get cocky sometimes. Really, it's more... exhausting... at the end of the day. Now that I think about it, I worry who I poofed." He pulled his legs in, hugging himself. "I mean, what if they actually have lives, but since Amber possessed them, they act like zombies..."

Connie, seeing his face turn into fear, felt very insensitive about what she just asked. She placed her hand over his, calming his nerves down. "Don't think like that... Well, I guess, a battlefield's a battlefield. It's war. I've read countless books on post traumatic stress disorder, and a lot of soldiers have that." her grip tightened around his hand. "You're a soldier. A strong and powerful one. You saved the world. The war is over."

"I'm a soldier?" Steven asked, her metaphors being thrown over his head. Connie's voice wasn't strong enough to influence him. "Well, yeah, the war is over... I just bashed some heads in. I didn't really save the world myself. I had a team."

"And you were a core member of the team." she reassured. "Important. If you weren't there, things would've gone downhill."

"I'm a core member because of my mom... But I'll play along that you think it's because I'm me."

"Well, you _are_ you."

"No, you don't get the point..."

The doors to the hospital room opened, revealing a guest in the room. For a split second, Connie thought it was Lapis, but with a notable height difference, she could see it was another blue Gem.

"Hello, Steven." Sapphire's cold voice greeted. The double doors swished behind her, closing by itself.

"Hey, Sapphire." Steven replied with an upbeat tune.

 _Sapphire..._ Connie repeated inwardly.

"I foresaw awkward emotions. I came to the rescue." Sapphire informed in monotone, hovering over to the side of the bed with Connie.

"Connie, this is Sapphire." Steven introduced, pointing at the cerulean Gem. He turned his head towards said Gem. "Sapphire, you probably... read her mind, or something. I don't know what you do. I probably forgot, or..." he awkwardly and intentionally chuckled, his voice cracking. "You never told me."

"I don't read minds. I can see into the future." Sapphire replied in a factual tone.

"Well, that's even more... cool." Steven raised a brow, not knowing how it worked back then if she knew every outcome. If she could see into the future, she'd be unstoppable. She could stop every threat before it happens. So, how did Amber happen?

"Can you see what's going to happen in the next few days?" Connie quickly asked, with stars in her eyes.

"I choose not to." the cold Gem answered. It was a habit she was trying to get into, so she could keep herself in touch with reality. Not escape into what could've been, or the dark depths of the future. Because she will never know if she was walking in her future vision the whole time, never moving in reality. "It's complicated."

"Ohhh..." Steven trailed away. "You just solved the puzzle in my brain. Did you do that on purpose?"

"I wanted to answer all your questions, given I know you have a lot." Sapphire said, eyeing both children.

"Uh, okay..." the demigem asked, "How can you see into the future?"

"Passive ability that all Sapphires have. There are not many of us. We're rare." she answered.

"Wait, you mean... Ohh... well, that would make a ton of sense. There were lots of Gems that look alike in the Rogue Nation." Steven stated, scratching his bandaged elbows. "So, there are more of you? Like, clones?"

"No. We're made individually in... factories called a "Kindergarten". It's a hard topic to discuss. It's controversial. None of us Gems would like to speak about that. I would know, I saw the future and know how they would respond. There's no use in asking them." she informed, glancing at Connie.

The girl mused at the name for the Gem factory. _Kindergarten... Did we humans name it ourselves or did it come from the Gems? I'll never know._

"But, what's a naturally-occuring Gem?" the demigem questioned, his mind trying to click pieces together. He knew some Gem stuff, but recently it seemed to him that Lapis didn't tell him all of it. "You know, what you and Amethyst called Amber?"

"Naturally-occuring..." Sapphire repeated, with clear dread in her voice. "I would need to explain how Gems are created..."

"If it's like a factory, then it's nothing like how our reproductive system works isn't it?" Connie responded, shifting in her chair. "A factory manufactures things using materials." she stated, raising a brow. "What's so controversial about that? Is it because... it's offending to origin?" The girl thought she hit the jackpot and quickly tried to apologize. "I'm so sorry."

"No. It's not that. Well, it's part of it. But not what you were addressing." Sapphire assured. She sunk into her seat, wondering how would Lapis handle this situation, because she's the one who stuck with Steven for a decade and knew how to talk to him. Being apart for ten years and talking to a child who doesn't know you till recently would ensue awkward feelings, because Sapphire knew him from the get-go while he did not.

Sapphire thought she should just go ahead and wing it. There was no perfect way to go around these two kids. Not even future vision could help her.

"It's what's needed to create us." she revealed, "The Kindergarten uses up precious spiritual material in planets... They suck out the life essence of entire worlds."

Steven and Connie looked surprised at this.

"So, all of you Gems... were made by..."

"Killing planets. Full of life." Sapphire confessed, "Gems aren't peaceful. They're warmongers. They look for planets to purge to use as land and serve as a hotspot for Gem production..."

"You say "them" as if you aren't a Gem." Connie pointed out. "And you used present tense instead of past."

"...That's where _your_ mother came in." Sapphire stared at Steven.

She didn't like to dwell on the past, but they wanted to know. They needed to know. So that they knew the story and it would be done with. Nobody but her knew the whole story, not even Pearl. Lies were thrown around in the mix, and Sapphire was the only one who knew the truth.

"Thousands of years ago, your mother, Rose, she was a high-commanding officer for one of the four leaders on Homeworld. The leaders were Diamonds. Rose wasn't really the type you would call... caring."

Steven stared blankly at the white sheets, remembering what Lapis told him about his mother. How the ocean Gem thought Rose was cheating with her words, like they had a spell on them. How Lapis couldn't decide if she was a good person or not. Steven didn't know his mother, so he acted like he didn't care about her. But he couldn't, he just needed to know. Recently, with all the Gem activity blowing up, his mother had been mentioned countless times and he had to know more about her. It was hard to show disinterest, because he was very curious in her mother's story. It was conflicting, seeing how Lapis antagonized her, while the other Gems worshipped her. His entire life and mission was even given by her. Two different sides of a coin.

"It sounds like Rose got a redeeming arc somewhere in her life." Connie informed, glancing worriedly at Steven.

"Rose was a high-ranking officer and is in charge of the bigger duties and missions. She had to dispatch a few resisting Gems so that the Gem economy can stabilize and work properly, but after the quantity in dispatches grew rapidly, she started to wonder how these Gems keep going off the normal path and such. So, she went on an undercover mission to find out what was going on in the lower states of the economy. She had to go through a lot of looking, but she couldn't understand us and decided to leave it out of mind and off us."

Connie and Steven listened intently, wanting to know more of the backstory. The girl was really interested in the roles of the Gems, how one could stray the path of the norm, and how ironically, Rose would turn into one of them. Steven just wanted to know and understand his mother to see what was all the praise and hate about. He now understood the hate part, and why his mom was so strong. She wasn't a "mom", she was an official, cold-blooded assassin.

"After informing the leader, she was sent to a dangerous planet where Gems were getting constantly beaten down. Rose met a group of sorcerers, using magic against her. She was defeated, but the sorcerers were the last of their race, and luckily didn't believe in killing." Sapphire paused for a moment, thinking if she should tell them lies or the truth.

"So, she learned how to love and bade them farewell?" Connie asked, interlocking her fingers together.

Steven stared at Sapphire, with lifeless eyes. He felt like he knew the story, and knew how it was going to play out. With a powerful voice, he ordered, "Go on..."

"Rose was loyal to the Diamond Authority. She used their trust and learned their ways... learned how to use magic, like teleport, moving things with her mind, creating fire out of thin air... she twisted them while they were in her grasp... She explicitly learned how to _persuade_ , and told them that each of them are going to kill each other."

Connie gasped.

Steven narrowed his eyes.

"She understood more about trust, relationships, emotions... knew the mind too well. And as a bonus, she had the ability to warp someone's intentions to her own... which was how she got the people who swore never to kill, to do exactly that." The blue Gem observed their sickened faces, and stared guiltily at the floor. "I'm sorry... This is the story you'd get from me. The real one. If anyone else interprets it, they wouldn't be able to tell as much as I did. I was the only one to catch onto her act and confronted her about it..."

"You're not the only one." Steven gripped the blankets tighter. "Lapis knew too..."

"She... knows?" Sapphire asked.

He nodded.

Connie's eyes darted from Steven and Sapphire, wondering what was going on.

 _Oh no... So that's why she did it._ Sapphire realized inwardly. "Anyways, the strongest sorcerer was the only one left standing, and alone he was no match for Rose. In his dying breath, he cursed her. She would never be able to use any physical manifestation of magic. So the only thing she had left was her persuasion. She left the planet with new knowledge and abilities, but also had more faulty thoughts. She knew her well-being and how powerful she was. She realized she didn't need to listen to some leader of an authority. She understood freedom."

Connie was trying to not show much anticipation in front of the two, since she treated this as a fictional, redemption story. But on the other hand, she knew how real this was to the Gems, and tried to keep her composure.

"Then, the Diamonds were starting to get suspicious about Rose. She started going against the Authority. She started going _rogue_. The Diamonds decided to send her alone to another planet to keep her away from the Diamond Authority, so they could decide if they should kill her. But as Rose purged the planet, she started learning more about the civilization, saw how their people interacted." she paused, taking a deep breath. "Then, the remorse kicked in. She started planning a strategy to beat the Diamond Authority while evacuating the people from the planet so it looked like it was purged.

"But a few Gem scouts caught on and tried to arrest her, and she restrained them, and changed the way they thought of the Diamond Authority. She had to use magic to stop them from killing more of the people. They decided to use the alien race's advanced technology to help them in weaponry. Rose learned a lot about their technology, and she created... a laser light cannon.

"But there was a Gem that was able to defy Rose's spell, and she had alarmed the Diamond Authority. The Diamonds sent their best ships to the alien planet to destroy her and her followers. Rose was almost able to send the aliens away before the battlefield was filled to the brim with Gem soldiers, but there was one spaceship that got hit with the Diamonds' ships. Rose learned what it was like to have something you've worked hard on, and instantly fall. She learned failure. Pain. Grief. She knew what it was like to care for something, and watching as the Diamond Authority surrounded her with thousands of ships... she felt herself snap."

Connie bit her lip excitedly. To her, the story was getting exciting. To Steven, he was listening to the birth of a legend. His mother reborn into a hero.

"She tested out the laser light cannons and destroyed hundreds of ships, using the Gems that were against her to fight the Diamond Authority using magic. She was giving it her all, and fought so hard her leader, the Pink Diamond, stepped in and entered the battlefield. Her magic was no use to her, every Gem stepped in the Diamond's way in an effort to save Rose, and finally, she was stabbed by her own leader, and was left to wither away on the dying planet. Rose's followers were then eliminated, and they decided to punish Rose with something worse than death. They left her on the battlefield, with her shattered allies, and nothing left but her tears."

"She healed them..." Steven shakily interrupted.

"What?" Connie asked.

"My mom had healing tears... It was where I got my healing spit." he informed, trembling a bit because of his familiarity with the story. "Lapis told me."

"Yes, your mother did heal them. She was able to bring them back from certain death. And even the enemies that Rose controlled using magic had respected her for such feat. And that's where she met _Ruby_ , who at the time was an imperial guard." Sapphire had a ghost of a smile on her face. "Gems wore diamonds to represent the Diamond Authority. They all decided to shift their uniforms into something without diamonds. They settled with stars, to represent their devotion to Rose. Now, Rose had an army, and they wanted to get revenge on the Diamond Authority. But Rose didn't want to do so just yet, and decided they all go around the cosmos to gather more followers, get stronger, and to gather intel to figure out a strategy to beat the Diamond Authority.

"A decade passed, the Diamond Authority thought Rose was gone for good, until they had official news that Rose was still alive. Rose found out more information about an ancient secret in the Gem Ways that came about ten thousand years ago. There was a form of strengthening themselves called fusion, a way for Gems to turn into one being, but it came at a dark cost... being stuck together forever, going crazy with the power, or having multiple minds play at once. It was a taboo on Homeworld, and used only in deadly situations. She had found out there was a way to stabilize the fusion, using the concept of love. The more connected you are to a Gem, the more perfect the fusion is and the more power you gather."

Steven had a flashback to seeing the fused archer, Opal, during the battle in Kronos Quad.

"She kept this information in mind as a last ditch effort. Among the ten years she traveled, she met a lot of powerful entities and grew allies and foes with them. Some were literal Gods to planets and others were just beings who she discovered in other higher dimensions..." Sapphire trailed away.

"Stop," Connie interrupted, smiling sheepishly. "This is getting really, _really_ exciting. And... complicated. Can I say that?"

"You can... This was the most revolutionary event in the universe." Sapphire stated. "Rose had received a gift from the aliens she saved, and it was a sword, made of a rare, indestructible alloy called Diarön. She led her elite team, that had Ruby in it, to victory in multiple battles in the cosmos to free other planets from their unfair rulers, which helped them gain more followers in the war against the Diamond Authority. From this, she gained help from many alien masters. She became more skillful and learned how to control energy. She was probably the strongest Gem out there at that point.

"Rose decided that it was time to finish the Diamond Authority so that other planets wouldn't get harmed, and brought in beings from other dimensions to help her. They were able to make an impact by striking the tower of the Diamond Authority with dark matter energy from space. From there, Rose and her group teleported in through the use of dimension-hopping and fought the Diamonds. Rose took on Pink Diamond herself, while the others fought the other three Diamonds. The battle with Pink Diamond ended with the two being blasted through dimensions and ending up hurdling through space.

"From their flight through space, they warped through time and dimensions, letting them end up fifty years into the future." Sapphire said.

"Time travel?" Connie wondered.

"No," Sapphire shook her head. "There was a gravitational time dilation. From their view, it was only a few minutes, but fifty years had already passed. From that point, the kinetic energy of their fall was able to rupture a planet. They both poofed. Rose was retrieved along with Pink Diamond, by the surviving followers of Rose. There were only few who escaped the wrath of the Diamonds fifty years ago, and Rose's whole army went into hiding. The higher realm beings either went away or were at the Diamonds' side by surrender.

"The last of Rose's elite team consisted of Ruby, Onyx and Obsidian. Onyx and Obsidian were close friends of ours, but they're not here anymore. I met Ruby ten years ago from that year of Rose's retrieval, and became one of their core members, and that's when I met Rose. She was friendly. Now that we had Pink Diamond cracked from the planet-rupturing fall, we could use her as leverage. We got the army back after Rose announced she was still alive after being called dead, and this infuriated the three Diamonds when they saw the cracked Pink Diamond.

"Since, technology of the Gems have increased over the fifty years, we've been able to warp through dimensions using warp pads, and it just made it harder to strategize a plan to fight the Diamond Authority. The warping through dimensions was a concept that sprung about when Rose and her team dimension-hopped in the battle of all four Diamonds. When Rose publicly announced that she was still alive, this gave hope to the other higher-tier beings of Rose and came out of hiding. It also alerted some of her foes and her allies' foes, so they went to support the Diamond Authority.

"Thus, a third war started to begin, and diplomats and new space officials didn't want this to lead to destruction, so they made politics. Rose was out of the game for awhile and didn't know what it was all about, so she simply went to the aggressive route and charged head-on against the rest of the Diamonds. This time, she fought Blue Diamond to a standstill. Onyx and Obsidian were the first ones to fuse in battle in the fifty year time period, and were able to stabilize it, and they became Jet. Jet was a really powerful fusion, and was able to take on White Diamond and the other godly entities that were against Rose. Yellow Diamond decided to end the battle using a mixture of electricity and dark matter, and caused a huge explosion because it was unstable and caused a nuclear fusion."

"Yellow Diamond made a sun? That doesn't make sense..." Connie responded.

"Dark matter is a mixture of magical and scientific material. There are different kinds of dark matter energy. Nobody knew at the time..." Sapphire informed. "Most escaped through the warp pads. The Diamond Authority needed to relocate a new base because of Yellow Diamond's actions."

"I would hate to fight any of the Diamonds." Steven remarked, clutching the blanket.

"Blue Diamond and White Diamond banned Yellow Diamond from doing any sort of science experiments like that, and put her in a confinement. So, it left the two Diamonds to sort out the problem. Rose knew it was a good time to attack, but more followers started to doubt her legitimacy with how aggressive she was. Ruby, Jet and I decided to bring Rose to an uncharted planet to work things out with her. We found out the reason she was being so forceful was because she was guilty and frustrated of the fifty years she had missed. Meanwhile, White Diamond had been mourning the destruction of Homeworld, and didn't want to cause more destruction. On the other hand, Blue Diamond thought it was the best time to find ways to get stronger to compensate for the loss of Pink Diamond and Yellow Diamond, and wanted more destructive power.

"White Diamond got into contact with Rose and wanted to make a deal to exchange for peace. Rose wanted to free Gems from working for the Diamond Authority, and wanted to stop the production of Gems. White Diamond wanted to rebuild Homeworld and expand the empire. They made a deal to decrease the production rate of Gems and expand their empire through more peaceful means. As a gift of the deal, White Diamond gave Rose a Pearl... _our_ Pearl. Shortly after, Blue Diamond found out about the deal and thought White betrayed her, so she decided to get Yellow Diamond on his side and create a weapon that would exclusively poof Gems. Fortunately, it was impossible to make such a weapon. It was at this time, we found out Pink Diamond had escaped from her cell...

"Rose thought she should end her feud with her former leader, and went after Pink Diamond. Rose shattered her in battle, seeing as how she had no use to her. From her meeting with White Diamond, it seemed she didn't want her anymore as she never negotiated about it. Meanwhile, White Diamond and Blue Diamond were on bad terms and started to become against each other. It started out with insults, then it turned into fisticuffs. They fought, and Blue Diamond won. She got to rule the Diamond Authority by her own. And with that, she decided that they should gather their strongest forces, and attack Rose by herself.

"Blue Diamond contacted the higher realm beings and were able to locate where she was at, and in a snap they were in our base, and destroyed everything. Rose was fighting a losing battle with Blue Diamond, and got cracked. Jet, Ruby, Pearl and I were being swarmed by Blue's army. With Blue Diamond's victory, she held a crippled Rose up to the public and showed off that she wasn't a "god", and that she shouldn't be worshipped. Instead, they should all bow down to Blue Diamond...

"This was the age of Blue Diamond, and she ruled the Diamond Authority... up until Yellow Diamond freed herself from her cell. Seeing as she was outmatched, she struck a deal with Rose, who was held captive, and teamed up with her to defeat Blue Diamond. In return, Rose wanted Yellow Diamond to be a peaceful ruler. Yellow didn't like that idea, and thought of betraying her after all of this. Yellow Diamond and Rose Quartz were able to defeat Blue Diamond, and banish her into space. Yellow ruled the Diamond Authority and locked Rose away. But Rose already had plans set in motion, and freed all her comrades beforehand. So, she escaped the Diamond Authority and went into hiding. White came back and paired with Yellow to rule the Diamond Authority again.

"Centuries had passed, and the tension between the Diamonds and Rose had lessened, since they had worked together and promoted a more peaceful side. So, there was no conflict. Gems who wanted to be free were free." She struggled to talk about being free as a fusion. She was still... _hurt_ over that. "That was until Yellow Diamond found out Rose had shattered Pink Diamond. Furious, she put a bounty on Rose and made sure her revenge was to be exacted. Except, Rose had been travelling from planet to planet, even going so far as to cross galaxies, and ended up on Earth."

As soon as Steven heard the planet's name, he gave a sigh of relief. This was going to be over soon.

"Are we nearing the end?" Connie asked.

"Yes... Since Rose had freed some Gems and gave peace to the universe, her ties with aliens have been cut. So, she couldn't contact any godly or dimensional entities. She had made peace with the people of this planet over five thousand years ago, and made sure her associates were free to do anything that wasn't Diamond Authority work. Rose retired from fighting and led a peaceful life, that is until the bounty hunters came to Earth. Yellow had located Rose and sent her fleet of ships there, and wanted to see the deed done. After Rose beat the bounty hunters, she encountered Yellow and was confused about the death of Pink Diamond. And also, why Yellow Diamond didn't find out sooner.

"Yellow Diamond threatened to destroy the planet if Rose didn't abide by her demands, which was to kill herself. Rose was going to do it, but... we were angry and didn't want Rose to do it, and acted the way we did. We spawned another war. We attacked Yellow Diamond head-on against Rose's orders..." Sapphire left out the part that she was fused with Ruby and was Garnet. Instead, she kept it secret and didn't want to confuse them with the matter. "We were certain we would win. But Yellow Diamond's threats were true, and she planted a Kindergarten on the surface of the Earth..."

"A Kindergarten?" Connie questioned, forgetting what they were after the incredibly long story.

"The factories of Gems." Steven answered, "They suck the life out of planets."

"Oh... She actually did that? There's a Kindergarten on Earth? Was it destroyed and replaced by a city?" she asked.

"The Kindergarten is still there..." Sapphire replied.

Connie was astounded that there was still a Kindergarten laying somewhere on Earth. She wanted to see what it looked like. Would it be like a regular factory? Or would it have some kind of alien factory that would look nothing like she imagined?

"Well, White Diamond found out and wanted to tell Yellow off, but Yellow already disabled any communications with White. Yellow fought with us for about another century, with an old style of war and strategy because we were only using the planet Earth and its surroundings as our battlefield. It was a small space, so of course the war wouldn't be as big. Rose defeated Yellow and they went away, with countless Gems defeated and shattered. Thousands of years after that, here we are. The fourth war _was_ recent, and it was the biggest war on Earth so far... which is probably why humans are wary of us."

"Not really," Connie stated, "they try their best to ignore your magic at all cost. They want to live a normal life... I guess."

"But, the Revolution seems pretty packed with info on you guys..." Steven responded, "Everyone who's interested in Gems went to the Revolution because it was the only place that would tolerate it. Nowhere else does anyone want to hear about Gem talk. From my logic, nobody knows about the Revolution, so the Revolution sends out people to find other people who are secretly and publicly interested in Gems. But, even with that, I've heard from some workers that they couldn't find everyone who's interested because they've hidden themselves really well in society. Even going so far as secluding themselves. So, anyone who's interested in your magic stays in the Revolution. The others that are hiding in society must be very powerful if they evaded the Revolution."

"That's a big observation." Sapphire remarked proudly.

"Yeah, my mother was probably paranoid about everything. Then I inherited her skill to finding out a lot of secrets." the demigem said, thinking of it as nothing. "I wonder what information do the other humans have with that amount of secrecy. They probably just know little of you... I'm just worried that they'd invite Connie to the Revolution."

"Hm. That's a good point." the bookworm replied, "I was interested in Gem activities. Now I know four Gems in person." She grinned cutely. "I'm surprised I haven't had a mental breakdown yet. I mean, out of the seven billion people out there, I meet four people and they're Gems! That's a lot of luck."

"To be fair, you met me, and I introduced you to Perry, Lapis and Sapphire." Steven stated. "So, it's luck that you met me, but the others were inevitable. You wouldn't have met them without me."

Connie shrugged.

She put her arms behind her head to act as a pillow and leaned against the chair. "Just imagine... What would happen if there was another war with the Diamonds right now? The fight just now would pale in comparison against what you dealt with... And _five_ _thousand_ _years_ of advances..."

"Don't think about it." Sapphire replied, crossing her arms.

"Peridot's from Homeworld. And her limb enhancers are technologically advanced..." Steven remarked, "But she hasn't turned on us yet. So no worries." He turned to the blue Gem. "Plus, we have you to predict the future. And you haven't seen any wars soon?"

"Fortunately, no."

She lied.

* * *

The Crystal Temple...

Peridot finished connecting a supercomputer to a power core. She dusted herself and marveled at her work. She decided it would be a nice gift if she made a supercomputer for the Crystal Gems in their base. They did help them save the world, and Steven lived here, so she decided this was the best way to do it.

Besides, Steven was resting. She had nothing better to do.

Peridot turned around and watched the purple Gem resting on the ground.

 _How long is it going to take?_ She asked inwardly.

"Amethyst doesn't take too long to regenerate." Ruby said behind her. "Still, compared to her others, she's taking her time."

Peridot squeaked as she turned to find Ruby sitting on the stairs of the temple door.

"H-how long have you been there?" the technician demanded.

"I've been watching you for the last five minutes." Ruby knocked on the stone stairs, the pointed at the inter-dimensional door with her thumb. "I came from my room."

"Oh, uh... How did you... answer my question?" Peridot stared at her bewilderedly. "You don't have telepathic abilities. Rubies don't have telepathic abilities."

"I saw that look in your eyes." Ruby stated, shrugging. "And I guessed." She didn't go into further detail, but she knew that look. She had it before, when she and Sapphire were still on good terms.

In the center of the room, the warp pad lit up. A pillar of light erupted, and revealed Pearl in her navy blue suit, with a yellow star in the middle of her chest.

"It's time..." the white Gem told herself quietly.

As if on cue, the purple Gemstone glowed and spiralled into the air. It gave off light, forming a physical body, and colors filled in the gaps. And out came Amethyst, who didn't change much. She had a gray, long-sleeved shirt with a black tank top over it. Then her usual gray pants with black stars on them.

Amethyst awkwardly looked around at her friends.

"We won, right?" she asked, "We're not hiding in the Crystal Temple, are we? If so, you guys picked the worst place to hide. I mean, it's literally the first place they'd look."

"We won, ya freak!" Ruby answered with a hint of joy in her voice. "Do you really think we'd be stupid enough to hide here?"

Pearl glanced over at the green technician, who was grinning in a dorky way. "Peridot, can you leave?" she inquired.

"Uh... but..."

"I need to discuss a private matter." Pearl stated solemnly.

Peridot didn't rebuke, but hesitantly walked out of the cave. After she completely left their sights, Amethyst turned to Pearl.

"That was _rude_." the young leader angrily mentioned. "What you're gonna say better be important."

 _She's getting cocky. A few days ago, when I fused with her, I felt a wave of distress. Negative emotions clashing with each other. She was on the verge of suicide._ Pearl thought. _Now, she's... better. She's acting like her usual self; a bit more upbeat. And her hostility pointed towards me because I kicked Peridot out. Hmm... I see what's going on._

Pearl glanced at the cave entrance, and spotted a tint of green by the rocks. She put it in the back of her mind and stared back at Amethyst, who's body language gave off rage that equaled Ruby when she protected Sapphire.

Pearl glanced at Ruby, who was behind her, and saw her being nonchalant. She'd never been like that until ten years ago, and that was because she left Sapphire. Pearl only knew Ruby when she was around Sapphire, and she always had this air of heat. Now, it's lessened. Maybe that's her when she's normal, and without Sapphire. Ruby was... less of herself.

The white Gem sighed as she stepped off the warp pad, making it so that she could face the two Gems. She gritted her teeth, then told them the news. She had been playing with this idea for a long time while she was gone, but it was time to tell them. It was time to tell them who she resided with.

"I've decided to leave the Crystal Gems."

Amethyst's face turned to surprise, all anger evidently swept away. Ruby didn't look that surprised. She's been living in a barn, she'd distanced herself from everyone else, she couldn't even bring herself to call Pearl a friend. So, she didn't care...

But, Amethyst felt betrayed. She was leading the Crystal Gems, and she knew she wasn't doing a good job, but to have Pearl want to quit in front of her face? She felt like she failed. She failed her. The shapeshifter's spirits plummeted again, before a burning fire lit her up again, and she had a change of mind.

She shouldn't drown in sorrow.

She should rise up from her ocean of pain and claim the title as the queen.

She needed to get stronger.

She needed to become _better_.

Then, she smiled. "Your loss."

Pearl raised a brow. "Hm?"

"You're gonna miss out on a _lot_ of missions, Pearl. Because I vow to..." Amethyst quickly thought of a plan for the next missions. Then, she remembered the burning room and the cause of all the fighting she had endured on Dexterity Castle. All of the Rogue Nation... they're still out there. "...get back all of the Gems that were left over on Dexterity Castle!"

"We're going into the ocean?" Ruby groaned behind her. "I'm not going into water."

"Amethyst, I didn't quit because we didn't go on missions. I just wanted to go do what I already did in my pastimes in a more convenient and the most efficient way possible. I didn't want to drag you with me, so I quit being a Crystal Gem." Pearl said, "I'm going to work with the Revolution."

"With Wildcat and Jack of Spades? No siree, I'm staying here." Ruby retorted.

"Oh..." Amethyst responded, scratching her messy hair. "Well, good luck with that. I'm not sure what you're going to do."

"I'm going to solve the human problems. You're going to solve the Gem problems." Pearl informed, remembering her promise to Rose. She was going to protect this planet. "And I might solve some Gem problems too because I'm a Gem, and the government would probably use me to solve the more public Gem problems. We all save the world. You just focus on getting back the Rogue Nation."

"Well... I guess this is goodbye." Amethyst asked. She looked away and muttered, "Not like I respect you or anything... you're gonna be busy with your stuff, and I'm going to be busy with my stuff... we're probably gonna be too busy to see each other."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You guys are being too dramatic about this. We're gonna meet sooner or later because this is _Earth_. It's a small world. And we're one of the only Gems that protect it."

"You make a point." Pearl said as she walked over to the giant exit of the cave.

She looked back.

"Good luck on Gem hunting."

And she left the Crystal Temple.

* * *

Several seconds later...

Pearl walked around the pale beach, searching behind the rocks.

"Where'd you go?" she murmured.

From the boulders, Peridot emerged, looking frustrated. "Why are you trying to find me?"

"I need you to help me on something." Pearl informed. _Your technology could find Gems and their energy signals. It would be a hassle if we didn't tell you what's going on. It'd be better if we told you now._

"Uh, and what is that something?" the technician demanded. She didn't trust Pearl, since she never contacted much with her. The only thing she knew about her was that she kept secrets from her team, and that she left Amethyst. She was as shady a Gem could be on Homeworld.

"I need you to keep a secret about Amber."

* * *

The Revolution...

Lapis Lazuli was waiting around a circular table with Jake Samson. She had her arms folded and legs propped up against the table, her blue boots dirtying up the place to show her annoyance. She was brought in because she was the most powerful Gem on the planet, and Pearl thought she would probably find out about the "secret". What secret? Lapis didn't know. She was just trapped in a heavily confined room, because she put her faith in her.

She trusted that Pearl would make the right decision.

The automatic, metal double doors opened, and two Gems strolled inside. Pearl in the lead with Peridot following.

The green technician went to sit with Lapis, since she's the only person in the room she knew. Pearl stood in her space of the table, putting her hands down on it.

"So, I've gathered two here because you'll find out this secret eventually." Pearl informed. She pressed a button, and the center of the table opened up. Five pieces of translucent, golden stone emerged from the hole. Peridot recognized the Gemstone, while Lapis didn't. Pearl announced to them, "We have Amber's separate pieces."

Lapis' eyes widened. _Amber's Gem? It's... big. And there's multiple pieces of it._ She didn't know for the most part about Gems since she was trapped in a mirror all her life.

"Together, they could bring back Amber. But separated like this, Amber would be unable to regenerate." Pearl informed, while Peridot rolled her eyes at the info. "We're gonna make it stay that way. Jake Samson and I have decided to keep one here at the Revolution headquarters for artificial safekeeping. And... _experiments_."

Lapis narrowed her eyes at Pearl. "Experiments?" she repeated, her suspicions raised.

Jacob slid a tablet on the table towards Lapis and Peridot. On the tablet was live surveillance of corrupted Gems and humans in white cells. There were Gems that looked like a bronze dragon with three heads; another one was a red, humanoid serpentine; a floating, watermelon-colored pufferfish; a giant black bird that spawned other birds; and countless others. These were corrupted Gems that Pearl and the Revolution took down because the Crystal Gems weren't active.

The humans didn't seem any less disturbing. There was a blood-red human that had three pairs of wings; a reptilian-like human with a large tail; a woman with red skin and wings; and finally, a giant, void-black king with organic scale armor. Lapis scrunched her eyebrows into an expression of strange contempt. Peridot on the other hand wondered if Amethyst appreciated the supercomputer she made for them.

"The experiments are going to be for finding a cure for them." Pearl informed solemnly. "Amber didn't get every Gem. Some are here because I was unable to poof them. Others because the Revolution got them by themselves. It ended up with them not getting uncorrupted, because they weren't out there with Amber. The humans were the cause of an Amber excavation."

"So, you want our permission to use a piece of Amber's Gem for experiments?" Lapis asked, thinking she got it right. Peridot snapped out of her thoughts and focused back on the situation at hand.

"I would've never asked for your consent in the first place if you Gems weren't the strongest or smartest Gems on the planet." Pearl answered sharply. Lapis felt betrayed inside. She had seen life through her mind, and never had she thought she would ponder like that. "I have you here because you'd find out eventually. Also, I need your help in putting these in places no one would ever find."

"So, one of them is going to be locked up here." Lapis stated. "The other four...?"

"I've thought of bubbling it up with the others." Pearl replied, interlocking her fingers together. She made a bubble, before making it vanish. "All seven of us, putting our energy into _one_ bubble."

"How would we explain why we only have one piece of the Gem?" the ocean Gem asked.

"We just say we couldn't find the rest." the confidant answered.

"You're going to lie?"

"Are you saying you haven't?"

Peridot interrupted with a chuckle. "Good thing we're heading over to the Crystal Temple. Because if this is the case, I'm going to have to erase traces of Amber's signal from the supercomputer."

Pearl grunted angrily.

* * *

Later...

"So, there's only one piece of the Gem?" Steven questioned.

"Yes." Lapis answered. The ocean Gem then went to talk to Pearl, going away from the Steven and the Crystal Gems, whispering. "How come the Sapphire isn't in on your secret? Couldn't she look into the future?" she muttered, glancing at the icy Gem.

"It's useless. She already knows." Pearl replied quietly, as they both watched Sapphire stare at their side for three whole suspenseful seconds, before turning back. "See?"

Lapis contemplated at Pearl, figuring her out. "You have more trust in her." she commented, "That's why you didn't bother."

Pearl didn't respond, and just waited for Peridot to be done with her "software update".

Amethyst, Ruby, Connie and Steven were just bantering in the burning room. Sapphire was staring at the center of the burning room. And Peridot was outside of the temple door and was fixing the "glitch" in the supercomputer. After a while, Peridot joined in with Lapis and Pearl, who were off to the side.

"Alright, I'm done!" Peridot announced, "We can start the bubble."

The seven Gems went around in a circle, huddling around a yellow Gemstone. They all created a bubble simultaneously, which ended with all of their bubbles fused into one giant, colorful bubble. Pink, red, green, blue, indigo, purple and white. Pearl tried to test its defenses and gave it a knock, and it proved to be as hard as steel. The Amber Gemstone was floating in the dense bubble, trapped forever.

* * *

Back to the Revolution...

"Where's our next location?" Pearl asked.

"Bottom of the ocean?" Lapis supposed.

* * *

Later...

In the bottom of the ocean, where sunlight can never shine and the pressure was so great humans would instantly explode in it. Lapis was swimming to the bottom, and hit the sea bed. She placed the yellow Gemstone down, and flew back up.

* * *

Back to the Revolution...

"Anywhere else?"

"We could put it back in the Amber mine." Jacob asserted, "I mean, it could also be a backup in case we run out of... Amber..."

Everyone looked at him suspiciously.

* * *

Later...

Jake slid down a ladder of a metallic tunnel, and landed at the lowest altitude a human could get to.

He stepped off the ladder and opened a door to an Amber excavation. He threw it in there as hard as he could, and locked the door. He looked up at the ladder going back to the surface, which was eleven miles.

"God damn, this ladder is going to be the end of me."

He groaned.

* * *

Back to the Revolution...

"That's four down. We need a final place for this piece of Amber." Pearl concluded.

"Nobody would expect it in a civilian's house." Peridot informed. She waved it off immediately afterwards. "No no no... Why don't we put it in space?"

"Space is too complicated, and even then it's easy to infiltrate." Pearl frowned.

Lapis smirked. "Yeah... what was your _first_ idea?"

* * *

Later...

Peridot sighed as she fixed the portrait she was hanging in her room.

"And that's _about_... done." Peridot said.

* * *

Back to the Revolution...

"Well, we're finished here." Pearl dusted her hands. She smiled at the sight that she finished working with people. She didn't like these two anyway... after all, one of them was from Homeworld and the other was a longtime enemy. Not easy to trust them, or forget what _one_ of them had done to her broken life. She didn't want to have any sort of emotions like those anymore; the ones that hit hard. Oh, how she wished to have Sapphire's naturally cold personality. "Time to call this meeting off... I had a nice time with you two."

"That doesn't sound true..." Peridot remarked, worried. Jacob wasn't there so she was able to act as much as she wanted. "You look like you're hiding something... keeping secrets in that Gem of yours..." The green technician snaked around Pearl, suspicious of her. There was a chilling vibe around the knight, which she did _not_ like at all. "What are you hiding?!" she burst out, "We're all Gems here! We're standing in a secret base! What other secrets are there left to hide?"

"Peridot, stop doing that." Lapis calmly said, crossing her arms and getting off her chair. She went to the metal wall and the doors opened. "Come on, I'm sure Steven is awake by now."

Peridot kept her eyes on Pearl, as she slowly walked back towards the opened doors. "You won't win, Pearl... whatever you're planning behind that smirk... OOF!" She bumped into Lapis, who started glaring at her. The mechanic rubbed the back of her head and shrugged at the ocean Gem. She redirected her focus on Pearl, muttering, "That confident look won't last forever!"

Lapis rolled her eyes. She gave a bored stare at Pearl. "Take care."

Peridot looked at her in awe. "Take care? _Take care?_ You're gonna say that to a potential threat?" she pointed at Pearl, feeling betrayed. She saw bad things from that Gem, like quitting the team Amethyst was on and making sure she hid secrets for her. "Can't you see that evil aura around her?"

"Pearl thought you're the smartest Gem." the blue Gem stated.

"I _am_..." Peridot replied aggressively. In hindsight, she was acting childish, so she slumped. "Okay, you win, Pearl... Geez, I'm starting to act more defensive... what's wrong with me?"

 _I can think of what's wrong with you..._ Pearl retorted inwardly.

"We'll talk about it later..." Lapis nudged the mechanic out of the way, and the doors closed, shutting themselves apart.

Then, silence.

She was alone.

Pearl looked down at the tablet that was sitting on the table.

She swiped it with a finger, and the words came up.

 _'Gem Registration Accords - First Draft (Kronos Quad and Dexterity Castle incident)'_

* * *

 **A/N: Can I say Rose's backstory to me was awesome?**

 **I can say it.**

 **It's really over the top. My imagination stretched out with pointless comical science and drama. I could probably put more detail in a special of Rose's backstory. Someday.**

 **This chapter was supposed to focus on what happened to Amber's remains, but instead it focuses on Rose's backstory. Because, I scrape the bottom of the idea pile everytime. And everytime that happens, a giant chapter comes out. And it wouldn't even be focusing on the main thing. Classic, C-V... Classic.  
**

 **ANYWAYS, it seems on January 4th we're going to have a backstory episode on the show. Yay!**

 **Either way, I'm not changing anything with this backstory. Because I'm a cool guy and I'm not gonna follow the rules.** (puts on shades and rides a motorcycle into a space of AUs)

 **Oh, and happy holidays!**

* * *

 **Breaking News: "Full Disclosure" is about Sapphire telling Steven and Connie the secret story to Rose's backstory. Except, it was planned to be ironically about Pearl making up _more_ secrets with Lapis, Peridot and the Revolution to protect the location of Amber. Because irony.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "The Long Winter"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **VWHYHQ RSSRVHV WKH JHP UHJLVWUDWLRQ DFFRUGV"**


	23. Chapter 21: The Long Winter

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 21: _The Long Winter_**

* * *

Three months later...

"This white substance you call snow is indeed an unnatural phenomenon. I've never seen this event. Not even Homeworld has this." Peridot trudged around in the thick blanket of snow. "Well, there's a reasonable explanation for that."

Steven rubbed his gloved hands and snuggled deeper into his scarf. By his side, Connie was wearing a warm overcoat and a beanie. The two watched as snow fell from the heavens... and so did Peridot's constant yammering. Said Gem didn't change a thing with herself, since her physiology could allow her invulnerability to the cold; she just disabled her temperature sensing functions.

And in the winter seasons, she had to warm up her limb enhancers so they wouldn't freeze over. And since the snow was really thick, about ten inches, she needed to do something extra to her limb enhancers. Steven gave her leg warmers, so Peridot went the extra mile with it and reinvented the leg warmers into her limb enhancers, thus why it appeared like nothing changed wih her.

On this December day, the three were playing around Perry's house, so they had a giant front and backyard to walk in. A nice amount of space

"Homeworld doesn't have snow? So, there are no temperature changes there?" Connie asked.

"Nah." The technician shook her head, also phrasing an informal term from Steven. "We just don't have giant bodies of water. Or, water itself, at all."

"This "Homeworld spy escapade" is the first time you've seen water?" she questioned, experimentally digging snow with her hands.

"Oh, I've seen other masses of water around. So far, I've seen two solar masses of water in another galaxy. They're very big." Perry answered, watching Connie roll up a snowball. She quietly watched, before asking, "What are you doing?"

"This," and Connie threw a snowball into Peridot's face.

"AHHH!" Perry screamed, "I can't see! My "eyes" are blinded with this harsh substance!" _Note to self, build dirt remover into visor._ She jumped around, trying to clean her visor from the sticking snow. Her hovering fingers scraped her visor enough so that she could see Connie preparing another one. She squealed in terror and hid behind Steven. "Steven, Connie is betraying me! She's going _hostile_!"

"She's just playing." the demigem informed with a sway of his hand, turning to her.

"Playing? She could've permanently blinded me!" Perry stated infuriatingly.

"You have your visor." he pointed out.

"Steven! Duck!" Connie yelled from behind. She had a bigger snowball ready to be thrown.

"Duck?" the green Gem repeated in confusion. _The animal?_

Steven crouched, and Connie threw.

SPLAT! Peridot was sent into the white, fluffy blanket ground. Her fall was thus eased. She sat up with snow sticking to her back, and glared at the two kids. Her expression was crestfallen when she spotted Steven gathering snow into a fat ball.

"You're siding with her!" the Gem cried, clenching the snow in her grasp. She growled aggressively, "Do you _really_ want to start a war with me?"

Steven looked blankly to her way, like it was obvious. "Yes."

"You better get your shield out, you _abomination_!" Perry rose from the ground, her leg enhancers sunk into the snow about ten inches. "Because I'm going to crush you with all this snow! All. Of. This. By the end of the day, you're going to get hypotherm—"

Connie threw another snowball into her face, shutting her up.

"—IAHHH!" Peridot shouted, activating her _tractor beam_ ; a green beam from her device that could be used to move stationary objects. Anything that could move will become immovable in her beam.

She gathered a pile of snow from her driveway, and prepared to dump it all over Connie. The girl noticed and ran away before Perry disposed all of the snow. She threw a snowball aimed for Perry's limb enhancer. It splattered all over it.

Peridot laughed, "That won't hurt me! My limb enhancer is sealed tight. Besides, the insides of this metal casing is waterproof! You won't backfire _any_ of my technology! HAHaHAAaa!"

"Not trying to hurt you." Connie replied, breathing heavily from running. "Besides, this is a game for fun."

"This isn't a _game_! This is war!" Peridot huffed and lifted a pile of snow. She threw it at Steven, who waited for the opportune moment to throw his dozen of snowballs. The Gem opened her arm enhancer and plunged it into the snow. She brought it back up, her mechanical arm full of snow, and started blasting hollow snowballs at them. "RAAARRHHH!"

Steven jumped in front of Connie and brought out his shield. He blocked all of the white pellets in Connie's way, and waited until Peridot ran out of snow.

"You are no match, for my shield!" Steven proclaimed.

"Oh, _really_..." Perry grinned.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"I'm glad that you can join us on this expedition..." a purple Gem said, her voice filled with stiff reluctance. "... _Lapis_."

"Polite," said Gem remarked sarcastically, inspecting the cave. "Took you about three months."

The Warp Pad lit up in the middle of the Temple, shooting a tower of light into the sky. It dissipated, revealing a Ruby who quickly jumped off the white pad. She took a couple steps to the inter-dimensional door of her room, before she noticed a peculiar setting in the air. It felt... moist.

She slowly turned her head, and found, as expected, Lapis strolling around the place.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby warily inquired of the Ocean Gem.

"I was just around." she responded.

The hotheaded Gem always kept grudges on people, and seeing the woman who kidnapped what could potentially be her former leader's legacy made her burn. She threw away that grudge three months ago because they had to save the world, but now it's back to the norm and she still hadn't gotten Steven back from this witch. Lapis glanced at Ruby, crossing her arms and patiently waiting for something to happen. Nearby, Amethyst watched closely at the two interacting, thinking it would be interesting.

"So, you're just checking this place out?" Ruby asked, suspicious.

"It's not like I'm going to _kill_ you. Steven respects you guys and knows your names. If he even finds you missing, he'll probably look the whole world for you." Lapis stated, "But not for Pearl. We're all kinda in the dark about her right now."

"But that's why that is the perfect plan!" Ruby countered dramatically, "You could hide us at the bottom of the ocean and he'll _never_ know. Plus, you know how to lie to him. You could tell him a bunch of fat lies and he'd _still_ believe them. Because to him, you're his mother and he'll always listen. When he sees us, he'll just think of a bunch of mindless psychopaths because that's what you told him to think of."

Lapis narrowed her eyes at her. "Are you... actually doing this right now?"

"I _will_ kick your ass, Lapis." Ruby warned, a gauntlet appearing on one hand. "One wrong move in here, and you're _done_."

"Okay, you're _actually_ doing this right now." Lapis summoned her water to create gauntlets for herself.

"Hey! _Hey_! Wait a second! Stop." Amethyst walked into the crossfire, holding her hand out to both of them. "Time out! You can't fight here! This is a sacred temple! It's against the rules! If you wanna fight, go outside and have your fun. Pearl ain't here to clean up the mess you make."

"You made that rule because you depended on a former ally to clean up all your trash." Lapis stated, knowing how Pearl felt about tidiness. It was a strange obsession, but she could understand. "Okay, first off... _wow_. Second, I can see the _main_ reason why Pearl left the Crystal Gems now."

"Insensitive prick." Ruby told Lapis.

"I'm not the one messing up the place and letting my teammate clean up after me!" Lapis retorted. She immediately facepalmed inwardly after realizing her mistake. Ruby was never around when the messiness happened.

"I LIVED IN A _BARN_! AWAY FROM ALL THE DRAMA THAT WAS CLUTTERING UP AROUND HERE! THIS CRAP AIN'T MINE TO TAKE!" Ruby shouted.

"It _is_ some of yours." Amethyst responded quickly. "You isolated yourself. You made us worry even more."

"Why would you worry about me in my barn house? Not like I could kill myself in there." The red Gem then impersonated a human. "Oh _nooo_! _What's_ _that_? The tractor landed _on_ me? I'm gonna be crushed by the weight. _Noooo_."

"That's it! Stop with the remarks." Amethyst ordered, "We're going to go search up for Rogue Gems. Sapphire took the lead. Let's go." She went up to the warp pad and the two Gems followed her.

"Can't handle my heat?" Ruby teased.

"I can't handle your face!" Amethyst retorted.

"Was that the best one up there?" Lapis asked.

"Shut up. I invited you to help us out. And you _are_ going to do that."

* * *

Peridot blew steam from her limb enhancer, preparing to fire a plasma rifle, when she got pelted with a snowball by Steven. She growled in frustration. Secretly, she had thought of going through the "crazy act" and went over the top, so they would think she was going _crazy_ and lower their guard around her.

"I thought you said it's gonna be a war, Perry!" Steven provoked.

"It _will_ be... You're gonna die! This whole planet is going to feel my wrath!" Peridot barked impulsively. "I will get everyone on the planet on death row for their insolence!"

"Uh, Steven..." Connie said, hiding behind their snow fort. "...is she... telling the truth?"

"Not sure..." the demigem replied. "I just like to imagine everytime Perry shouts things like this, she goes into a delusional state. But everytime that's not the case."

"Should we stop? Calm her down?" Connie asked.

Steven contemplated at the idea. He then decided that enough was enough and went over to Peridot. "Hey, Perry, it's all just a game." he reassured.

"It's not just a game, Steven. It's an all-out war. Guerilla warfare. You don't stand a chance!" Peridot yelled, secretly scooping up snow as Steven neared her.

"Hey, calm down alright? Just relax." he told her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

 _Yes! I've got him now! My act worked!_ Peridot thought. "AHAHAHAHAA!"

 _Oh no, she's gone ma—_ Steven's thoughts were interrupted by snow being pushed into his face.

"I got you!" Perry exclaimed, laughing at her ingeniousness. They took the bait! She lightly pushed Steven into the snow, then her eyes flashed at Connie. "Now for the human!"

Connie trembled in her boots, not expecting Perry to have that good of a plan. The technician got some snow in her tractor beam and dashed for the girl.

"N-NNOoooOO!"

The three looked around bewilderedly for the source of the scream. Perry squinted. "Who—"

A cyan Gem jumped in front of Connie. She had messy, upward-pointing, parted hair, that made her look like she had the devil's horns. But her hair was slicked back. Then she had a shredded, golden cape, that trailed into five points, like she was wearing a star. One side covered her front, two covered her shoulders, and the remaining two were trails on her back. She had a blue dagger pulled out, demented eyes, and sharp teeth that scowled. She growled at Peridot, recognizing her as an enemy.

"You h-hAve... _the_ _audAcity_... to harM the _hUman_?" Kyanite growled, her voice being raised and lowered unexpectedly, like she was broken. But when her voice was lowered, she sounded sore and hoarse and... whispered like she'd been screaming for too long. "...yoU _disg-gust_ mE."

Steven rose from the snow, rushing in between the Gems. "Wait! Wait! It was just a game! She didn't hurt me."

"...BUt she has th-thE... _DiamOnd insignIA_ on h-h-hER." Kyanite stammered, looking puzzled and hurt. Peridot was astounded that it was the first time someone's called out on her Diamond insignia. "She c-c-canNot be... trus-stED. _Hu-uMan_ w-will fEel... _PAiN_."

"Um, uh... She can be trusted." Steven tried to reassure. "We were just playing—"

" _NO_!" Kyanite yelled hoarsely, her expression turning angry. "I wiLl not hAv-ve _HomewoRLD_ ba-ck. S-She _mUSt_ _dIE_."

Kyanite leaped over at Peridot wildly, before Steven came in between them again and summoned his shield. The pink emblem was enough to stagger Kyanite and scare her. The cyan Gem stumbled away, staring in awe at the boy.

"Y-yoU haVe _Rose's shield_." Kyanite was conflicted. There was a Homeworld Gem over there and Rose was telling her not to kill it? This was against what she told her. Did she betray her? Was this what Amber told her about? How the agony she went through, being the fourth one to be uncorrupted and being constantly switching through corruption and uncorruption _painfully_ by Amber wasn't going to amount to what's next?

"I have Rose's shield." the demigem repeated.

"N-nO. ThiS c-not hapPEn-ning..." Kyanite mumbled, before disappearing into a blue light. She was gone. There wasn't a cyan Gem ready to attack Peridot.

Kyanite... _teleported_.

* * *

Lapis and Amethyst were watching a group of Rogue Gems from afar. They were residing on top of a mountain, in a barren wasteland. It was last known as Dexterity Castle, but in it's place was just a crater. Now, they were observing the Rogue Nation setting up a camp and taking more Gems to their group. And by Sapphire's statement, the only Rogue Gems there had a Diamond insignia on them. None of them were Rose's followers.

"Shouldn't we intervene?" Amethyst asked the water Gem right next to her.

Lapis shook her head. "No. Not yet. They haven't done anything bad."

"But they should be punished." Sapphire cut in from behind. Amethyst and Lapis averted their gaze from the crater to the cold Gem. Ruby was just lurking around. The prophet added, "They're the Rogue Nation. They've followed Amber and did her bidding. By taking them out now, we could also reduce the potential outcome of the risk that they will attack in the future."

"You do make a point." Lapis begrudgingly stated. Ever since she met her and knew of her future vision, she had no reason not to comply with her. But recently, this cyclops seemed strange. Like, she doesn't know what the future holds. She said "reduce the _potential_ outcome of the _risk_ ", which made Lapis uneasy. Does she not know what will happen next? She's not even saying it confidently.

Amethyst nodded to Sapphire's words. "They've got _numbers_. We can't let them grow into a bigger group. Or we might end up losing... like how we almost did with Amber."

"But I am interested in what they're going to do next..." Lapis informed, arms crossed.

"Sapphire could tell you." Amethyst firmly replied.

"No." Sapphire responded sharply. "I don't want to see the future. Only madmen do."

"Uh, why? What's wrong?" the leader asked.

"It's... too much." the cold Gem answered, looking down at the ground, ashamed.

"Well, I'm voting not to." Lapis said. She looked back at the crater, watching the Homeworld Rogue Nation get together. "They could be redeemable. I know what Amber did to them. I know what her power felt like. She manipulated their thoughts and lied to them. She made empty promises of home and freedom. They should at least be able to decide their own future, not us."

"I don't know what to say to that." the purple Gem replied.

"We're going to let them go." Ruby announced, standing up from her rock. "We're not going to hunt them down like they're the corrupted animals they were. They're Gems; they have their own mind and spirit. It's not like last time. There's a notable difference, they're going in packs. They've made groups. Not like last time when they were all lone wolves."

"If we let them go, you're going to risk having thirty-eight Gems run loose on the planet." Sapphire stated, her voice sounding... desperate, for some reason. She didn't see into the future, but she had this bad feeling in her soul about letting Homeworld go. "Like you said, Ruby: their Gems. They're stronger than humans, and humans can't protect themselves from an attack from them. They're going to cry out because they would think the government didn't do a thing to stop them in the first place. If we take them now, we're going to make sure nothing like that happens. Socially and economically, nothing gets hurt."

"But you're also playing with the fact that you're going to decide the fate of thirty-eight Gems. That's messed up." Ruby countered, "They all have lives, Sapphire. Not like before when they were being controlled by Amber, because they were _literally_ being controlled by Amber. They were mindless. But with Amber out of the picture, these Gems can be free to do what they want, and if they choose the wrong decision, then fine, we'll intervene. But if they haven't, they'll think we're being unfair to them and call _us_ mindless."

"You're saying that Gems have a higher state of opinion than humans, seeing as how the ratio is seven billion to forty." Sapphire said, starting to shake with anger at how Ruby was too stubborn that she had to argue with her on this. They had a history, _so what_? Why can't Ruby open her eyes? Seven billion people are at stake! Why can't she stop this _grudge_ and go along with her?

"I'm not saying that Gems have a higher state of opinion!" Ruby yelled, "I'm saying everyone and everything is equal! Quantity doesn't matter! You can't _kill_ someone who has a life and say it was the right thing to do. They've built up their lives to this point, and might've made bad decisions, and you're gonna end it there for a reason that's biased? If I were to say, that you were picked to kill one person in the entire world, or the whole world explodes, what would you do? Even if you killed that one person to save the world, you killed _someone_! Someone who had a future! A life that can't be redeemed."

"Okay, the two of you make some valid points," Amethyst remarked. "I can see where you're both coming from... Sapphire's for security and Ruby's for rights to live. And for some reason I picked the two words that started with the letters of your names. Wow, what a... what a coincidence."

"I'm all up to see what these Gems decide to do with their lives. Who knows? Maybe they'll just kill themselves from the guilt of advocating an extinction of an entire species." Lapis shrugged, knowing how the Corruption ability worked. Ruby glared at her, not liking how she was on her side to preserve the Gems. To Ruby, Lapis was still the enemy, she just can't picture a happy ending with her still alive. But since she was _rooting_ for her... she _could_ get used to it.

Sapphire decided to pull out her trump card. "But, they're... still sided with Homeworld. Our enemies for... hundreds of decades."

The three heroic Gems thought of that point.

Ruby smirked, knowing how to retaliate. "And so is _Peridot_." Amethyst and Lapis both nodded at her, the former one asserting more. "She's a Homeworld Gem. Why don't we shatter her right now? Just like the rest of these Gems? It's because she wasn't really our enemy. She might be with Homeworld, but she's been our ally for the entirety that she's stayed here. She didn't have Homeworld's ideology. And so can those Gems down there. They could _change_ their viewpoints."

"You're really in for the enemies, Ruby." Sapphire mentioned darkly.

"That's where you're mistakened, Sapphire." Ruby scowled, "They're not the enemy. They're the _victim_. A victim of following _blind leaders_. They followed leaders that promote efficiency and a government. And recently, they just followed a lone leader who ambitiously pursued a goal to help her Gem kind through means of manipulation. Sound familiar?"

Sapphire slowly opened her mouth in shock, while Amethyst's eyes widened a bit. Lapis could see where this was going, and didn't want to deal with any Rose Quartz worship, so she decided to stop the argument there.

"Okay!" Lapis raised her voice, getting in the center of all three Gems. "I think that's enough. Ruby and I decided to spare these Gems. Sapphire is up for shattering them. Amethyst, I don't know where you stand. But the tally says that we should follow the idea that we should spare the Rogue Nation. For now."

"You're not a Crystal Gem." Sapphire mentioned, glaring at the water Gem who was in her way from smacking Ruby. "You have no power in deciding with us."

Amethyst rode onto Lapis' decision to end it and used her leader power. "I think Lapis is right. Let's just go home."

The leader of the Crystal Gems started walking away, with Lapis awkwardly following her to advance her decision. Ruby went as well, feeling victorious that she won against Sapphire. Said Gem was just standing there, contemplating what to do, then she stared down at the Homeworld Rogues.

She sighed, "I guess the argument was a silly one. What would Rose do?" she pondered that thought. "Rose wouldn't want to kill more Gems. If anything, she'd side with Ruby, and let the Gems go free...

"...Maybe this was why Pearl left. She couldn't handle such illogical reasoning. She wanted to do things her way..."

* * *

Peridot thought about what happened earlier today. It reminded her of something.

The trio decided that there was enough playing in the snow, so they went inside her warm house. Steven and Connie were just sitting blankly on the chairs, their day ruined by the appearance of a Rogue Gem. The encounter was unexpected. They couldn't handle the situation and were left to think about it after it had happened. And Peridot was a victim to thinking.

 _That Gem was right._ Peridot thought. _Why did they trust me? I'm a Homeworld Gem and I was sent to spy on the Earth and retrieve valuable information. Yet, I'm just sitting here... not doing what Homeworld ordered me to. Am I..._ against _Homeworld? No. I'm not. I'm just here because I'm supposed to do my job. And I ended up saving this planet._

 _I'm supposed to return to Homeworld in the near future._

 _That's unsettling._

 _But I have to, or else it'll be suspicious. They'll send their armies here, and after they see how much this world has flourished, they'll destroy_ everything _. Even Steven, Connie and..._ Amethyst _. I can't let them do that._

 _So, I have to hide what I found and feed them lies._

 _Well, it that's all it takes to protect them._

 _Then leaving will be a piece of cake. Then I'll return and they'll still be safe. Because Homeworld trusts me._

 _Wait..._

 _Is this what betrayal is?_

 _Does that mean I'm no longer siding with Homeworld?_

 _That's insane. I've never done that. Homeworld is my life. I've been there all_ my life _. By not siding with them, I'm going to cut away a piece of me. I'm not doing that. I'm just going to tell them the truth, but keep Steven, Connie and Amethyst a secret._

 _This is going to be harder than I thought._

"Peridot."

The mechanic blinked out of her thoughts, looking at Connie.

"I want you to know, you're one of my best friends... no matter what I said three months ago. I trust you." the girl smiled.

Peridot was confused. Then she figured out she was reassuring her. "Thank you, Connie. You're my one of my _best friends_ too." she replied, her tone without emotion.

"Are you okay?" she asked, worried. Steven was staring in concern as well.

"I'm... Just... thinking." Perry answered uneasily. She glanced at her mechanical arm, and her fingers. Her visor then had a message pop up in her face. "About... _stuff_."

'TIME LEFT: 4 MONTHS'

* * *

 **A/N: Chapters from now on are gonna be this short. Or shorter. I hope. I don't want to overwork myself.**

 **I don't have any jokes here.**

 **Uh...**

 **What do you get when you throw Santa up in the air?**

 **He, uh... he breaks the... _ceiling_?**

 **I'm not good with this. I'm out.**

* * *

 **If you want a goody-two-shoes Rose Quartz, then you can read this little parody thing my friend made, because _he believes in a better Rose_. Hats off to him.**

* * *

Behind Rose's Backstory: _Passing of Info_

Thousands of years ago, not sure when, but in between the first and second wars...

Ruby glanced at Rose, who was ordering Gems on piloting the ship.

Knowing to act nonchalant because Rose said it was okay for Gems to talk to her as a person, Ruby went up to the large Gem and tugged her by the hip guard of her armor. Rose glanced down curiously at the red Gem, with innocent eyes.

Ruby sheepishly asked, "Hey, uh, this might sound weird, but... What's your origin?"

"Oh, _my_ origin?" Rose repeated, and the short, imperial guard nodded. The large Gem placed her hand on her chin, and rubbed it. "That would be hard to explain..."

 _It's complicated? Oh no, I'm not good at remembering complicated things._ Ruby panicked inwardly.

"I guess I'll give you the short story." Rose replied.

 _Great! I can understand that._ Ruby thought.

"Now, let's see..." Rose paused, pondering, "...I was a Gem farmer once... had a nice place; sky was a nice sight, and the ground and air felt cleaner than on Homeworld. Plants grew everywhere I went. 'Don't know why. I was stationed on this isolated planet called _Gravy Favilts_ for... I think seven years. I was picked up along with some other Gems to Homeworld and found out where we were placed in the Gem ecosystem..."

Ruby scrunched her brows in confusion. "I thought you were going to make it _shorter_... with all the _important_ stuff..." she whined.

"Yeah," Rose replied, looking sad. "But that _was_ important stuff..."

"I, uh... _look_ ," Ruby put on a serious expression, "I can't... _remember_ things that well."

"Well, why did you ask my origin? Everyone's origin is packed with things."

"I was curious. This is one of the only times I've asked."

"Okay... So, they checked me and ranked me as the highest grade of the Gem ecosystem; a disciple to the Diamonds. I was their personal bodyguard, I _guess_... it didn't fit well because I was a farmer once and I lived a peaceful life, and now I had to work as an assassin, and _boy_ was _that_ tough! I didn't know what I was doing, but I was told to poof and shatter bad Gems because they were being _bad_. And I knew what bad meant, and it meant they were going to worsen the crops. And Homeworld crops were _really_ bad..."

Ruby remembered for sure there was no such thing as crops on Homeworld. "Homworld doesn't have crops."

"They don't? Oh, I must've mistaken them for something else." Rose said, wondering about the giant plants that were growing on the lands, with Gems entering in and out as they please. "Anyway, I've been doing the assassin thing for a _while_ , until I learned that poofing and shattering Gems meant they _die_."

Ruby's eyes narrowed, as her mouth opened in amazement at how stupid she was for a second.

"I was ashamed, sent myself to this far off planet in space, and became a farmer again. People learned who I was and threatened to burn me down because I was a witch, so I threatened that I would poof them. _Not_ shatter them, that would kill. They didn't know what I was talking about, and I did exactly as I said... But turns out, aliens don't poof. They did something else."

Ruby inwardly facepalmed.

"I just purged an entire world by accident. Homeworld found out about my skill in purging worlds and they used it often. I ended up purging this world, which was really hard, since there were magicians with their sorcery. When they checked me, they found out I was pure of heart, and decided to teach magic to me to defend myself..."

Ruby's eyes widened with interest. "What did you learn?"

"I was slow, but I learned how to persuade people with magic!" Rose gleamed. She pointed a Ruby, mustering up all the magic essence she could get. "Go do the dishes!"

Ruby raised a brow, disappointed. "Uh, sure." she shrugged.

Rose continued telling her origins.

"Then, one of the sorcerers was like, "I want to gather all the magic!", so he purged the other guys to gain their magic essence, and grew stronger. Then, this last magician, the powerful one, he took a rabbit out of a hat and locked the dude in the hat, and that spell used up all his magic juice and he purged himself. Then, I realized, the Gems would think I purged the world myself, and I quickly turned to this other planet, and decided I will not purge the planet. Even if on accident. They made me laser light cannons in return."

 _Oh, good, we're nearing the end._ Ruby thought.

"The Diamond Authority hated me for it, and decided to purge it themselves. So, I had to fight back because I didn't want the smart aliens get purged, and I used the laser light cannons to take out all the ships. And then..."

"I know the rest." Ruby interrupted, turning away. "I'm gonna go guard something..."

* * *

Fifty years later...

Sapphire went up to Ruby, who was reading a book about memorizing spells.

"Hey, Ruby, can you tell me the origin of Rose Quartz?" the cold Gem asked.

Ruby had a menacing grin plastered on her face. She closed the book and dumped it down forcefully. She leaned closer to Sapphire. "Wouldn't _you_ like to know?"

* * *

Present...

"...and that's the _real_ story. Not the bullshit Sapphire got from me." Ruby told Steven and Connie. "I, for the life of me, can't get rid of that awful story your mother told me."

Steven and Connie glanced at each other.

* * *

 **A/N: That's not gonna be canon. It's just a skit my friend did to support good Rose. It thought it was a good skit.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: "The Long Winter", because it's winter. And it sounded cool.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Rising Tides, Crashing Ship"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **WKH VLGHV RI JDUQHW ZLOO HQG XS RQ RSSRVLWH VLGHV."**


	24. Chapter 22: Rising Tides, Crashing Ship

**A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2016, here we are. All the best things are happening!**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 22: _Rising Tides, Crashing Ship_**

* * *

One month later...

Spinel, now reformed, was trekking through the desert.

Alone.

The sun was beaming against his cold, hard skin. He kept stepping into the hot sand.

He was persistent on this journey. This _destiny_.

He was gonna die anyways.

Either by the Crystal Gems (which was a high percentage), or by some other case (which was also a very high percentage).

It doesn't fill him with "determination".

His spirit was breaking.

His mind was hurting.

Amber was still lurking around his head... _controlling_ him.

In the distance, he could see a pink object.

"Is that a... _Lion_?" he asked himself.

Spinel got closer and inspected the unnaturally-colored animal. It was indeed a lion. And it seemed very lazy. It was sleeping, in the desert. The heat doesn't seem to bother it, even with all that fur.

Spinel took off, ignoring the animal.

"Can't stop. Mustn't let the Crystal Gems get me..."

He told himself.

"They _know_ where I am..."

He told himself.

"Because they can sense the power of the Gem I'm holding..."

He glanced down at his new blood-colored, scale armor. Inside, there was an energy being emanated, which was negated by his armor. Thus, giving off a weaker signal on the Gem locater.

"... _Onyx_. You are Amber's last plan."

* * *

KNOCK KNOCK!

Lapis opened the door, peeking out. She didn't see anyone her height, and looked down, finding Connie wearing a weird outfit. It was a pair of baggy jeans and a vest. Her hair was done in a ponytail. The Gem held the door wide open, letting Connie in.

"You look different." the water Gem commented relaxedly. _Isn't it cold? It's winter._

"Y-Yeah. I kinda do." Connie said, shovering a bit, before walking into the room. She took wide steps instead of her usual small ones. The heat in the house filled her with warmth. "It's... something."

"Steven isn't here, kid." Lapis stated, watching the girl aimlessly walk around the house. The blue woman left the door open. "He's out trying to bond with Ruby and Sapphire. And I let him, because I'm a _nice_ Gem."

"I knew that," Connie replied hurriedly.

"Then... what are you here for?" Lapis asked curiously, raising a brow. Connie looked at Lapis, trying to form words in her mind. She waited patiently for the human girl to respond, hoping it wasn't as complicated as she was making it to be.

With a deep breath, Connie finally uttered a word. "Listen..."

"Oh, what's that?" Lapis jokingly raised her hand beside her ear. "I can't hear you..." she said with closed eyes, "Sorry, kiddo, looks like I'm not gonna be able to listen."

"Please... It's... kinda serious to me." said Connie.

Lapis' blank stare turned into a serious one. "What is it?"

"Well, um... I kinda want to..." she stammered, scratching behind her head. "I wanna... well... uh... I really need to learn how to... I _must_ know how to protect Steven!"

The ocean Gem's eyes widened marginally. She blinked, looking down at the kid perplexingly.

"What?"

"I, _uh_ , want to learn how to fight." Connie said with a straight face and a tough composure. "I've been thinking about this lately... and it all started four months ago with the—"

"Okay, I'll help you, kid." Lapis interrupted easily, surprising the girl.

"Wait. What?"

"I'll train you. You'll get better at fighting. Since, that's what you want." she explained. "Though, I'm not sure how that's gonna help in protecting Steven, when he already has his powers. But I'm sure your human genes just wanted to improve and match Steven's ability." Lapis raised a hand and held her chin. "That would take a _lot_ of compensating. Because you're human."

"You'll train me? For real?" Connie asked for assurance. She didn't want this to be a dream or she'll be _disappointed_. She pinched herself on the arm just to make sure. It hurt. She broke into a grin. " _Awesome_! What're we going to do?"

"Oh, you thought we were starting today?" Lapis looked around the house, apprehensive about breaking it.

Connie's face fell. Lapis saw it.

" _Okay_ , we'll start today. But _not_ here." She rolled her eyes when she saw Connie punched the air in joy. "Man, you have a lot of _determination_."

"Knowing I'll get stronger, I fill up with _determination_!" Connie yelled excitedly.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Lapis ignored what just happened and inspected Connie.

"Well, you're gonna need some more defensive clothing. And all you have right now is fit for something of agility." She took off her leather jacket, revealing a navy tank top, and tossed the jacket to Connie, who caught it confusedly. "Wear that. I stole it from the Revolution months ago... it's got "graphene" laced in it. Strong, flexible material in leather, which can also help in stopping sharp objects."

"I know all that." Connie said as she wore the jacket over her vest.

"'Course you do." Lapis replied, noting her skills. _She could make a_ great _contingency plan against Pearl. If I trained Connie right, I could send her to beat up Pearl for me so I won't have to do it myself. I'm still mad about being cracked and..._ trapped _. Now, if I can figure out how to make you even better... magic, maybe?_ "Now, since we're not going to train here, obviously. We're going to go somewhere. So, take my hand."

Lapis extended her arm out to Connie. The nerdy human eagerly took it like it depended on her life.

"Woah, you _sure_ are excited for this." Lapis remarked, water running down her arm and enveloping Connie's body in floating liquid.

"You remind me of my favorite video game character. You're _mysterious_ , _powerful_ , you only care about a handful people, you're _not_ human, you call me _kid_ , you wear a jacket, and sometimes you're fun to hang around with..." she said, slowly spinning upside-down from the water controlled by Lapis. "If only you made puns..."

" _Water_ you talking about? I make puns." the Gem said solemnly.

"That is literally the first pun in _any_ "joke" book." Connie said with half-lidded eyes and arms crossed.

"Well, for it to be the first pun in any joke book, it has to be a _gem_ of its kind." Lapis explained with a smile, hovering off the ground and leaving through the door. Connie's water transport followed Lapis, who shut the door closed and maneuvered themselves to the roof.

"Okay. Whatever _floats_ your boat." Connie retorted in a deadpan tone. She watched in silent amazement as they were flying over the city, passing by clouds.

"I _sea_ what you did there."

* * *

Amethyst's steps crumpled the grass beneath her.

She was walking on the trail to the red barn (or "workshop"), since she was informed by Ruby (who calls herself the owner of that barn) that Peridot had constantly gone there to work on a project. For a month.

Curious, she decided to check up on the mechanic, and what she's been doing in a _barn_.

She glanced around at the freshly trimmed lawn, and a sign that wrote, "This is Ruby's property. Don't step on my grass or I'll blister your face." Kind of unnerving, since it had snowed and the temperature was _really_ low, but there was _no_ snow in her lawn. It was also warm...

"Wow. Oddly defensive about your lawn, Ruby." Amethyst remarked, before returning to walking to the red gates of the barn. They were open, so she was able to slip in without making a noise. She gazed at the bronze ship that was obviously the main attraction of the whole barn, and her eyes spotted the back of a small, green mechanic, who was working hard on said ship. Amethyst's eyes widened by how small Peridot was, because she never saw her without her limb enhancers. To be honest, she looked cuter like that.

Her stare came to an abrupt end when Peridot noticed a looming shadow cast over hers. "I'll be gone in a few minutes, Ruby..." she called out.

Amethyst snapped out of her gaze, and responded, "I've never seen you like that, Perry."

"YAHH!" Peridot shrieked, knowing who the voice belonged to. She cursed under her breath, berating herself on mistaking Amethyst for Ruby. She turned to face the youngest of the Crystal Gems. "Why... are you here?"

"Dunno. Came to check." Amethyst answered calmly. "I heard from Ruby you've been coming around here for some time. She told me you were working on something. 'This what you're working on?" she pointed.

"Y-yeah..." Peridot stuttered.

"Don't be shy, Perry!" Amethyst tried to encourage her, as she walked closer and draped an arm around Peridot's shoulders. "Just because you don't have your big mechanical arms with you, doesn't mean you're less you! Well, you're shorter. That's an exception."

 _Oh wait my limb enhancersOH NO SHE'S SEEN ME DEFENSELESS._ Peridot screamed in her mind.

"Anyway," Amethyst left Peridot to herself, and kept a space between them. The young leader's eyes looked over the traditional bronze ship; the ones that float over water and was famous during the pirate era. She loved pirates, those troubling sea folk. She fought giant whales with them. And the ship reminded her of that. So, why was Peridot working on a measly ship? Unless, it was something else entirely. "What is this?"

"It's-it's a transportation device. Like one of those ships in those historical fictions." Peridot answered.

"What do you call her?" Amethyst wondered.

 _I hope to Diamond this works, Steven._ Peridot thought, before speaking the name of the ship. "The _Advanced Mechanically Engineered Distant Overseas Transport_ Ship!"

"The... Advanced Mechanically Engineered Distant Overseas Transport..." she repeated, eyes narrowing. "Wait a minute, that spells AMEDOT."

"Oh, that's a pretty nice coincidence." the technician acted like she didn't know.

"Uh, what does "Amedot" mean?" Amethyst asked, feigning confusion. She was actually teasing her. She had a suspicion it was something personal. "From what you said about the "coincidence", it _means_ something."

Peridot had a moment of silence, numerous beads of sweat forming on her now heated face. _Oh shit, I screwed up, didn't I?_ She thought as she grinned, her eye twitching. "Uh..."

Peridot's grip on her tools tightened, the metal handles crumpling under her stress.

"It's... It's our names... m-mashed _together_." the mechanic gulped, a dark green hue spread across her face.

"But I didn't work on the ship." Amethyst stated in an innocent tone, leaning her hand against the metal plates of the ship. "Why would you want _my_ name in it? I didn't help... I didn't even _know_ this existed."

"U-uhm," Peridot's eyes darted around the barn at an alarming rate. "Because... b-b-because..."

Amethyst was getting tired of it. Even if it was cute, it had been _four months_. She couldn't keep playing this game. If no one made an advance, then who would? She decided to take things into her own hands, instead of play with the fates.

"Because you like me." Amethyst answered.

Peridot was mute for a moment.

Her mouth shut, no words erupting from her throat, her mind was blank. She had no response. She had never felt this feeling before. What is this? Is this _human_ emotion? The one Steven explained to her two weeks prior to this about this "love"—Wait wait wait, was it _that_ obvious since _Steven_ could figure it out?

 _Uh. Oh no. OH NOOOooo._ Peridot shook. _My_ feelings _! My_ thoughts _! He could_ read _them?! I'm not even sure if it's the same feeling!? But I want to keep it secret and hidden in case of the embarrassment and the humiliation! The fear of ever losing contact of her because of her probable disgust and disapproval in me! OR WORSE, IT COULD BE LIKE THE STEVEN SAID, THIS "FRIENDZONE" WILL HAPPEN AND I WILL BE STUCK IN A VOID WHERE SHE'S IN MY RADIUS, BUT I CAN NEVER GRASP HER! SUCH_ TORTURE _._

Amethyst realized something. _She's from Homeworld. She doesn't know these things. So thaaat's why..._ She struggled to keep a chortle. _Poor guy._

"UH. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT." Peridot asserted loudly. She snapped. "I DON'T NEED A REASON TO CALL THE SHIP THE AMEDOT. I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT. THERE IS NO DEEP MEANING IN THE FUSION OF OUR NAMES ON THE THING THAT I HAVE CREATED FOR YOU."

"You made this for me?" Amethyst meekly replied.

"OH WAIT NO NO NO. I-I DIDN'T—UH—PROBABLY YES, BUT NOT WHY YOU THINK I DID IT." Peridot tried to cover her act. "I DID IT BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU'D NEED A BETTER WAY TO TRAVEL. INSTEAD OF THE WARP PADS THAT _OBVIOUSLY_ CAN'T GO EVERYWHERE THAT HAS A _BEAUTIFUL_ SCENERY. WARP PADS ARE _ALL_ ABOUT THE LANDMARKS OF FAMOUS GEM BASES, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SIGHT OF THE WONDROUS FLOWERS AND NATURE, AND THE SKY AND the... I've dug too deep, haven't I?"

"You've dug yourself enough to get an official grave!" Amethyst joked. Peridot stared at her in decline. "It... It means you've burried yourself alive."

"I've burried myself in _what_?" the green Gem shrunk, fearing that the joke Amethyst made was a negative response. It had death in it, so was she threatening? She hoped not, with all the confusing human phrases.

"You said you dug deep."

"Uh, yes, that was an Earth metaphor."

"And, so was that."

"OH, so you were just... Okay! I get it now." Peridot responded awkwardly. _One wrong move and I'm done for. C'mon, Peridot, you can do this. Like Steven told you to do! Compliment._ "It's a joke. You made a joke. I love your jokes."

"Alright, Perry," Amethyst walked closer, causing the scared technician to yelp and take a small step back. "Uhh... I'm not Ruby, you know? It's safe to touch me."

"But, you know... personal space." Peridot reasoned, "I don't like touching."

"Peridot." She looked serious. "If you keep away from me, then what you want will never start." Amethyst sighed, blushing a bit. "Okay, I'll give ya this... I... _like_ you, just as much as you like me." Peridot's mind broke. The purple Gem pumped her chest proudly. "But, _I'm_ more secretive about it because I know how to ACT. You, on the other hand... it's easy to tell... I already know, Perry..."

She gave a patient smile.

Peridot stood there, stunned.

It took more time for her to think about things.

She inwardly went back on her studies of everything she's ever learned, and tried to find the correct response.

"You're deformed." Peridot blurted out.

Amethyst's eyes widened in surprise. Peridot slapped her own mouth.

"NO NO NO, THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN TO SAY!" she said through her hands covering her mouth.

"Wow..." Amethyst sneered, pointing. " _You love a deformed Gem_!" she teased, repeating the insult in a singsongy way. "You love a deformed Gem!"

The mechanic clenched her fists.

"Yeah, so? That deformed Gem is you! You're not allowed insult yourself!" Peridot yelled, feeling overprotective of her things. "No one gets to insult _you_! Don't say that!"

Feeling the rhythm going and the truth coming out, Amethyst continued.

"And why's that? Why can't _anyone_ insult me, huh?"

"Because you're great! Can't you see that? You lead and strategize and you always do your best! You even saw through me and figured out what I wanted! When the Pearl left your group, instead of feeling that you disappointed her, you congratulate on her success and kept smiling! Why, you even sacrificed your own body to stall for time and even to the point where you should've poofed! But you didn't, you persevered because you believed _I_ could finish it! You fought your way through endless amounts of Gems, and still won with friends left to spare! You're the "underdog"! You don't have any special abilities like the other Gems, what with Ruby with her fire, Sapphire with her ice and future vision, Pearl with her... I don't know... but _you_ , you developed a knack for transforming that you even use it in battle in the most creative ways! And your loyalty to your friends is something I've never seen before—"

"Wait. Okay, I'm not _that_ loyal. Pearl has more loyalty than me." Amethyst informed, feeling a bit more confident about herself. The praise was new to her. She never really listed those as achievements, but Peridot was making a _big_ deal out of them, so they must be awarding in some way.

"So, I made this ship, just for you. It's my... _gift_." she said with starry eyes. "It has transformative properties like yourself. It could fly, set sail on sea, go into space, ride on the ground..." Peridot slid her hand across the metal plating of the ship, beaming at her own reflection on it. Her grin dimmed, lowering to an honest smile. "Even when deformed, you're better than me. But _this_ will even the score."

"Aww, thanks." Amethyst's Gem lit up a bit.

"Oh, and so that I win, here's a transforming weapon." Peridot tossed her a small box, which Amethyst caught on the second try. Perry then posed victoriously. "Hah! _I'm_ ahead! Two for Peridot, one for Amethyst! I win this round!"

"Not yet."

"Uh, what? You got something for me?"

"Here. It's not much, but..."

Amethyst leaned over, and planted a kiss on her lips.

* * *

 **A/N: *looks at document* I'm sure all of you get the joke.**

 **You know... _shipping_. And Amedot. The ship's name is Amedot. And it's a work in progress ship that Peridot's trying to work on. So much symbolism.**

 ***SHIPPING INTENSIFIES* *INCEPTION BLARES***

 **I thought it would be a good sendoff.**

 **Now, I'm sure from knowing my style of writing, you're all wondering about that Lapis and Connie training.**

 **Well, you see, I've come up with a severe problem of laziness. I've actually written two drafts of it and spared you the horrors of a normal training routine. You're welcome.**

 **EDIT: Wait, show!Steven is 14?** **Well, his age doesn't really matter because he could control his age... But that means... The Cluster is 3 years away in this timeline?! Nah, hell no! _Peridot_!**

Over in the corner, Peridot was reading the script of her fake betrayal in the show. "Yeah, what?"

 **Speed up The Cluster! We need it to come two years earlier!**

"Uh, why? You could easily just say this is an alternate universe and be done with it." said Peridot.

 **Oh. Yeah. I'll do that.**

 **So, yeah. My Cluster comes earlier, so it's BETTER. NYEHEHEHEHEH!**

 **Oh, and I've finally seen Undertale. It's _astonishing_. SL!Connie's a fan of it and you could probably guess who her favorite character is.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: "Rising Tides" is the Lapis and Connie scenario. "Crashing Ship" is the Amedot scenario.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Pay Your Respects"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **DPHWKBVW ZLOO VLGH ZLWE KHU EXGGB SHDUO."**


	25. Chapter 23: Pay Your Respects

**A/N: We reached 150 reviews! A milestone! On... 1st January, 2016. Neat.**

 ***Stevenbomb 4 appears***

 **OH lord it's beautiful**

 **so much PLOT**

 **I CAN'T HANDLE PLOT WHEN I'M ON BREAK! COME ON, ME! WRITE FASTER!**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 23: _Pay Your Respects_**

* * *

Two months later...

Lapis was in the kitchen counter of their apartment, writing on a red book. Her scribbles were notes of potential contingency plans in case of emergency. Like, maybe a Gem (mostly Ruby and Pearl) turned on her and she needed an easier way to defeat them. But, she's the most powerful Gem, why would she need an "easier" way when she could just smash the whole mass of the ocean at them?

It's to keep the humans and the government off her back.

If she angers the government and other sensitive people, by controlling the ocean away from everyone and just using it for the singular purpose of beating someone, then they had the power to flip the switch and get everyone on Earth against her. They'd put her on the wanted lists, make news articles to brainwash people to make her look like the bad guy, reward people for her death, and consider her as public enemy.

Well, that's what they do to humans.

Maybe it would be different for Gems. They'll probably send Pearl and Lapis would use the same tactic of flushing her down into the ocean. But it would be _so_ annoying, and humans would come knocking on her door and complain about the sea getting saltier.

Now that she thought about it, she _really_ needed a plan against the government.

 _I could enlist the help of other Gems._ Lapis thought, clicking the pen in her hand. _But the only people I_ truly _trust are Steven and Connie, because they're children and I've raised Steven all his life. And maybe, Peridot. Do I trust Peridot?_ Her mind went back to all the times the green Gem proved she was pretty much harmless to her. _'Probably do._

The water Gem hovered the pen over her notes.

She wrote, 'Ask Peridot if she can make a death machine'.

She went back to thinking and repeatedly clicked her pen. She placed her chin over her right fist and tapped her left hand fingers against the table. She wondered what kind of death machine Peridot would be able to make, until realizing she'd been working on ships with Amethyst lately.

Her pen went down again, crossing out the recent sentence, and wrote, 'Peridot has once again proved her uselessness to me. Meaning: She won't make the death machine'.

From the living room, Steven was pacing around about his pensive thoughts, before finally going up to Lapis about it.

"Lapis?" the chubby demigem called, snapping her back into reality. She immediately closed her red notebook shut and gave him a big smile, enough to get his raven eyes to quietly shrink in fear.

"Yes, Steven?" the Gem asked, hiding the fact she's been fantasizing about outright killing people.

"I've been wondering about something..." he confessed, looking down at the expensive wooden floors. His eyes went back up to Lapis, who was sitting across the counter. "...who's my _father_?"

"Your father? Uh..." Lapis trailed away, not really knowing who he was. She couldn't bear looking Steven straight in the eye when she didn't have an answer. "...I could say he's kind of a goofball. 'Don't know what happened to him. Nor do I know his name. Pearl seemed to ignore him a lot."

"I've been thinking... and I think my father _has_ to be someone powerful. Someone that has enough power to get my mom's attentio—" He repeated Lapis' words in his head as he just partially ignored them. "—wait, he was a _goofball_?" Steven questioned curiously.

He thought his father would be someone really dark and spooky, but his father was a "goofball"? That's _cool_. A normal guy was able to get his mom's attention. That must mean his mother had grown to become a softy recently. It warmed his heart in realization.

"I remember him being a rockstar." Lapis held her chin, squinting her eyes in focus. "But seeing as I've only known him through the mind of my enemy, it could be warped." she shrugged, "But seriously, I don't know. I've never met the guy in person."

Steven narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Well, I had this theory..."

* * *

Flashback to his first meeting with Amethyst...

 _"...Just like the Spirit Morph Saga! Oh, do I have a dead, awesome, warrior-like father that had done some bad things to protect his loved ones and the world, only to be found alive and actually in undercover as a secret agent for the government?!" he asked excitedly._

 _"Uh, yes, you probably do." Amethyst answered nonchalantly._

 _Steven frowned. "You're supposed to keep that as a secret from me!"_

 _Amethyst shrugged, not caring. "Hey, it was gonna be revealed sooner or later..."_

* * *

"...but it could be wrong. Besides, Amethyst has a— _sometimes_ —uncaring personality." Steven told her, trying to find the right words. Amethyst was complicated to him, he could never understand her. But somehow, Peridot managed to understand her before he could. Steven continued, "Or she could just be joking and kidding around... or just running her mouth faster than her thoughts."

"Sounds like she acts on instinct." Lapis remarked, focusing back on her notebook. She ignored the fact that Steven had met Amethyst prior to the Amber event. She continued her day, and had a request. "Steven, I have a question for you."

"Shoot." he responded.

"If I were a government convict, would you still follow me?" the blue Gem asked inquisitively.

The demigem nodded hesitantly, slightly confused.

"Well, that's fortunate." said Lapis, who clicked her pen and wrote on her notebook. "Looks like it's you, Connie and I for the road if I ever need to murder anyone."

"Uh..." he frowned, stepping back cautiously. "...Explain _Connie_."

"She agreed to follow me as a disciple. She described her loyalty to as far as "like a dog", so I guess she'd still follow us." Lapis leaned back on her chair, relaxed about the current situation. She had nothing to worry about now. She had complete freedom again. And the stress of losing Steven was gone in her mind.

She felt complete.

She felt _empty_.

Nevertheless, she treasured this feeling of emptiness. "Not sure about Peridot though... she seems to be siding with the Crystal Gems. And _Pearl_ is in the Crystal Gems. I despise her."

"Didn't Pearl quit being a Crystal Gem six months ago?" Steven reminded her.

"Oh, she did?" Lapis went back to her notebook and turned to a new page. She started to write about her potential alliance with the Crystal Gems. "Well, that's fortunate too. Woah, my luck has been _rising_ today. I'm never gonna lose to the Earth at this point."

"What are you _doing_?" the demigem questioned slowly.

"I'm making future plans. If I ever need to go fight potential enemies, I have something to remind me of their weaknesses. And it's to remind me of who my allies." Lapis nonchalantly answered.

"That's pretty confidential stuff there." he remarked, looking away and wondering _why_ she needed to remind herself of her allies. She knows _he_ will forever be an ally to her, right? It troubled him and his trust. "You wouldn't want the government to get their hands on it."

"Steven, they're not gonna get this book." Lapis opened the book for him to see. When he read the first sentence, he had no idea what he was looking at. It wasn't even an Earth language. "They won't ever understand it."

"Aren't there professional decoders out there who would be able to understand your writing through traditional means? I mean, they were able to make out what Egyptians wrote five thousand years ago, and those were primitive drawings." Steven informed. Every second he talked, Lapis' arrogant smile faltered more. "If professionals are able to do that, then they would be able to understand your language as well. Or worse, they'd get Pearl to read it."

"Oh, right. Pearl's with the government." the water Gem scowled, her head dropping onto the table. "Then I need to think of another way of storing this information. Luckily, I know the solution."

She effortlessly ripped the book in half with her average Gem strength.

"Now no one will know my research. Hahahaa..." Lapis laughed nervously, dusting her hands like a job well done.

"That defeats the purpose of making the book in the first place." Steven stated blankly.

"I'd rather have everyone lose than let myself lose alone." she told him, leaning back on her chair to relax again. She placed her hands behind her hair, using them as a pillow. "If I can't win, then nobody wins."

"You're taking winning very seriously." he said, aware of the inky atmosphere.

"If it's a life or death situation, you'd be pretty serious too." Lapis stated like it was obvious. "To me, winning just lets me boast things at others and boosts my ego. My pride would grow, and I'd get even cockier. But ya know the _best_ part? It's that I'm the most useless Gem to begin with. Winning against others is like winning a fight with a laser pointer."

"I don't understand you, Lapis. And you're getting _really_ scary today." Steven informed, feeling unjust.

Lapis glanced at the boy, before sighing. She realized what she made him go through just now. A talk about her plans of killing other Gems, her ideology of winning, and more of her ruthless personality. Well, she had to admit, she was a psychopath.

"Sorry, Steven. I've just been in one of these moods."

"It's okay. I understand."

Lapis continued her day, sitting on the most uncomfortable chair she had ever sat on. While Steven went to lie on the couch, and stared off into the ceiling. He kept wondering about his odd father who'd play rock music. At least, that's what he just got from Lapis.

KNOCK KNOCK! Their door was being knocked on loudly.

Lapis groaned as she got off her chair and lazily went over to the door. She opened it without a care, yawning in the face of whoever was at her doorstep. The man on her door was dressed in a suit and had a symbol on his breast pocket that was familiar to Lapis. The symbol was a dagger.

It was a Revolution agent.

"What do you want?" Lapis demanded, "Did I do something wrong? Or do _they_ need me someplace?"

"Uh... yeah, they need you someplace. And can you bring the kid along? This is an all Gem meeting." the Revolution agent informed.

* * *

The Revolution...

Steven and Lapis made their way through the metal halls, and got inside the room they were designated to. It was like a courtroom, which meant they were to be judged. At least, that was what Lapis thought. At first, she thought they were trying to recruit all the Gems, but the view from here just made that idea vanish.

All the other Gems were there too, standing in front of the defendant's desk. Ruby was leaning on one side of the desk; Sapphire was just floating on one point; Amethyst and Peridot were sitting on the floor, right next to a bronze ship called Amedot that tore a hole through the supreme courtroom walls. They didn't seem to be agitated by it. And Peridot had her limb enhancers on, but they looked sleeker than usual. Surprisingly, Pearl was also there, standing attentively, but she made no eye contact with the rest of the Gems.

Commander Samson was jokingly sitting in the jury stand, besides Wild Card, with only the two of them sitting in the twelve-seat stand.

Lapis narrowed her eyes at the man sitting in the judge's seat that was twenty feet from them, who appeared to be old and fat. He had three other people beside him, all of who looked just as old as him. And Lapis knew they were business.

The water Gem glanced at Pearl, who she hadn't seen in half a year. She didn't know why, but she was scanning her intently. She looked different, but nothing's changed since the battle against Amber. She recognized Pearl's new navy outfit and didn't find a single change or scratch on it. For some reason, Lapis was worried about her glum and sullen look. She felt guilty for a split second about making a plan to beat her, but that all dissipated when she caught Pearl's staring at her. Lapis almost forgot her usual composure and her lips twitched upward at the sight of her eyes, but realized she was glaring, so she glared in return.

The two had a heated stare down, before turning their gaze back at the humanitarian spokesperson.

"So, these are all of the Gems?" the man in the judge's seat asked.

"Yes, seven Gems." Jacob Samson answered, nodding.

The old man glared at the bronze ship that was only halfway through the wall. He then inspected the Gems' discipline, and was thoroughly disgusted by them.

Ruby rolled her eyes and mocked the old man by snorting. Sapphire and Pearl glanced at the hotheaded Gem in frustration, before focusing on the judge again.

Lapis glared at the four humans, hoping this meeting wasn't a waste of time. Peridot and Amethyst stopped playing with their cards and stood up like the rest of the Gems. Meanwhile, Steven was nervous about this whole meeting, since those four people looked legitimate and he didn't know what was happening. He's an eleven year-old boy, and he's averagely five thousand years younger than the people he's standing with.

The head of the world leaders spoke up. His voice was loud and clear, but kept that age.

"It's been six months since the Gem attacks on Earth. Are you the Gems responsible for the events of Kronos Quad and Dexterity Castle?" the old man asked. Upon further inspection on his suit, there was a nametag that wrote "Aderel". It was his last name.

Ruby scoffed, going back to leaning on the desk. "We aren't responsible for that." she responded impulsively.

"But your whole alien species was." Aderel stated, thinking it would shut her up. Fortunately, Ruby predicted this and knew her retort.

"Wow. Racist much?" she provoked. Aderel regained his composure and inwardly berated himself for stepping into that one.

Jacob and Wild Card were watching intently from the stands, one of them laughing internally.

 _Aw, this'll be great. The world leaders are a bunch of government assholes to deal with. Hopefully, the Gems can shut them up._ Commander Samson thought.

"What's this meeting about anyway?" Lapis asked, sounding impatient and arrogant. Well, she had the power to back up her ego anyway. And she didn't like this guy. Not one bit.

"The destruction of Kronos Quad and Dexterity Castle." Aderel said sharply. "You Gems have caused us over twelve billion dollars of property damage, and the lives of _thirty_ million. It's been six months, and we have now decided that it should be time to reprimand you for your actions."

"We didn't _destroy_ those places." Amethyst, being the leader of the Crystal Gems, politely replied. "We stopped a major threat to the world. You can't reprimand us."

"You failed to protect thirty _million_ people." Aderel rebuked. "The world is angry at the Gems for their work of terrorism and think _you've_ betrayed them because you're _Gems_. This "Amber" and her catastrophe is now a household name! She's a nightmare for everyone and the families that lost their members from the attack. And worse, they can't trust the government anymore because of that nuke! People have been against us for building such a weapon. They're all going haywire! Most have the decency to stay quiet, but some have banded a group and have become public enemies."

Lapis narrowed her eyes at Pearl, who's lips seemed to be moving at the same pace as Aderel. It was like she knew what he was going to say. Only Sapphire would know that. So, why did it look like Pearl wrote the script? Lapis kept the suspicion to herself and watched the rest play out.

Amethyst glanced at Ruby, who had been good with retorts and knew just as much as her, for guidance. Ruby noticed and mouthed a sentence to her. Amethyst nodded.

"So, what do you want us to do?" the purple Gem asked, looking up at the world leader.

Aderel turned his head to his colleagues, and silently gulped. He knew what their endgame was, but didn't know if it was the right time. Mysteriously, the world leaders had taken a known glance at Pearl at least once in the meeting, and did it again, rather discreetly.

"We want you... to work for the government." Aderel requested. "It would help a lot, and gain some reassurance for those who still believe in you and the government. Reinstitute hope in human minds. And, we would like the help from you to build a better world and a better future."

The Crystal Gems seemed to dislike the idea of working for a loose cannon, and so did Team Gem Squad. Pearl gave a gloomy stare at her former teammates, thinking it was their last redemption for the trouble their race had caused. She hoped someone would share the same mindset for this decision. Luckily for her, Sapphire did. The ice Gem had her ideologies declined by Ruby and Amethyst, who both said it was too judgemental.

"Isn't it _your_ responsibility to protect the planet?" he insisted. "You can go the extra mile by preventing potential threats that could stem from the public's hate on you."

"Psshh," Lapis chimed in. She never really was a hero to begin with, and she only helped save the world to let Steven survive. Although she did mourn about those who had fallen during the time, she already moved on. She and Peridot were never part of this group of Gems, therefore they had no _real_ responsibility in this. So, she shrugged at them. "Why should we?"

Peridot wondered the same thing. She had no responsibility for this planet. Despite having taken a nuclear blast at point blank range for the world, she never considered it as saving it. She did that ridiculous stunt for the sake of her friends' lives, never once had saving the world crossed her mind. Plus, she was going to leave soon, so it was useless to approach her.

Ruby didn't think she should be commanded by a government, and thought it wouldn't be fair to elect all Gems into work. It reminded her of Homeworld, where work is the norm and their goal was to build a "better" place. She didn't need to be reminded again when a Gem she was standing with was still loyal to Homeworld in a way. But she didn't despised her anymore because Peridot had... _settled_ on Earth.

Amethyst was still in the dark about her thoughts. She couldn't really say she would work for the government when she already had a responsibility as the leader of the Crystal Gems (although she was failing badly at even doing that). The reason she wouldn't let go of the title was because she thought it would be disrespecting to Rose Quartz. If she left to the government, Ruby would be all that's left of the Crystal Gems and it wouldn't _be_ " _The_ Crystal Gems" any longer.

Steven's thoughts were a mysterious cluster of different sides of his mind. His pride and childlike nature wouldn't let go of Team Gem Squad, and he didn't really want to work 24/7. But, he wanted to do more to save the world more and keep its peace, but didn't know how to do it. The government already have plans that he could follow, but even then, there was this strange thought in the back of his head that swelled up with anger and disapproval at the government. And he knew it wasn't his voice.

Aderel had Lapis' words echo in his mind. He then reached a decision that this bunch of Gems were a rowdy bunch. They wouldn't get the efficiency they would want at this time. He was sad to announce that he will be disappointing the other senators and presidents that the plan didn't go as well as they thought it would. It seemed Pearl was the only candidate.

"Well, you really don't need to if you don't want to." Aderel informed, finally dropping the intense pressure off his shoulders. They wanted this meeting to end the second the Gems weren't interested in their offer.

"Then we politely decline." Lapis answered, beating the other Gems in responding to him. Ruby and Amethyst felt their spotlight being stolen as the water Gem took the final say. The blue Gem turned to Steven, and patted him on his shoulder to ease the rising tension in the room. The demigem's shoulders slumped and the breath he didn't realize he was holding was exhaled.

Today was not a good day for the kid, she realized. The water Gem decided that she too wanted to know what happened to Steven's father. He kind of went missing. And what's a better way than to ask the other Gems?

However, in the corner of her eye, she could see Pearl glaring at her again. This time, the stare was colder than she could imagine and had the intensity of the sun's rays. Lapis kept herself from showing any outward signs of fear, holding back the shiver down her spine.

 _I'll ask any Gem that's_ not _Pearl._ Lapis thought, eyes trailing over at the rest of the courtroom.

At the same time, Amethyst hopped into her bronze ship, seeing as Aderel and the rest of the world leaders have decided to end the meeting and left the room, with Jacob following them out. Ruby followed Amethyst, having no other easy transportation back to the Crystal Temple.

Sapphire floated over to Pearl, and the two had a quiet conversation about the meeting.

Peridot clanked her metal boots over to Steven, lifted him up and gave him an unexpecting hug.

"I haven't seen you in a while!" Peridot exclaimed, tightening her grip on the demigem.

"It's been a _week_." he said, voice squeaky from the still embrace. He felt the tips of his arms and legs numbing. He's always wanted Peridot to hug him affectionately, but this was like a death grip. "I... didn't know you like hugs too... But this is too much..."

"Let's keep it like this for a little longer..."

" _Peridot_?"

She didn't move.

Steven remarked, looking around. "This is _weird_."

It lasted long enough for Lapis to feel uncomfortable. Amethyst noticed and leaped off her ship to confront the two about it. She gave a wide grin.

"Sorry, Steven. She hasn't felt anything except me for the last week." Amethyst kept smiling, until she repeated the sentence over in her head. She could feel Lapis' "Are you kidding me?" gaze through the side of her head. "That came out wrong."

"Oh, the damage is already done." the water Gem quietly whispered, rolling her eyes.

Peridot finally let go of the boy, who started gasping for air.

"Sorry, that lasted longer than needed." the mechanic apologized agitatedly. Awkwardly, she looked away and scratched her head. Lapis tapped her shoulder.

"Peridot, can I ask you a private question?" the water Gem asked.

She turned, facing her. Peridot wondered what she could _possibly_ want. "What is it?"

Lapis motioned her to follow her, and Peridot did. The two were far enough away for the others not to listen.

"Can you make a _death machine_?"

* * *

Steven looked up at Amethyst, who greeted the boy with a nod. The demigem stood up, shakily, and wanted to inquire some information from her.

"Uh... Amethyst?"

"'Sup?" Her cool and laidback tone reassured him in the friendly pleasantries. They had gotten off the wrong foot, and had unusual interactions, but it seemed all that was bad was forgotten. Like, not realizing he was _The Steven_ in the first place.

"Do you know who my dad is?"

Amethyst's typical smile faltered. Her mind drew a blank. She wasn't prepared for this talk. She didn't think _she_ would be the one out of the all the Gems that he would confront _this_ question with? She didn't know it was that time of the year already.

 _What am I supposed to say to him? The truth? Doesn't Lapis know, like, everything?_ She asked herself nervously. _If I don't say the truth, he'll find out. But if I do say the truth, he would be one less answer away from all the fun mysteries in life... and also the fact that he's half-human and humans are prone to wild emotions... Wow, I sound like Pearl._

Steven patiently awaited for her answer.

"Uh..."

* * *

Later that day...

The flying bronze ship was parked over a cemetery, hovering just above a tree's height over the graveyward. Two beings jumped off the boat and landed on the soft grass.

Steven could feel... all the death in this place.

It was unnerving.

The demigem followed Amethyst until she stopped at one grave.

Steven read the grave.

 _Gregory Universe. Who's he? Is he my dad? Well... since Amethyst isn't moving... seems like he's..._ burried _._

"Well, if I were to answer your first question..." Amethyst pocketed her hands, eyes focusing intently at the wilted roses on the grave. "...Yes. I knew your dad."

Steven stared at the tombstone for a _long_ while.

After a moment of silence, Amethyst glanced at Steven to make sure he was okay. He seemed... at peace. He wasn't crying like she expected, or joyous like she, erm, also expected. He was just stone-faced. She hoped she hadn't broken him.

"Uh... You okay there, bud?" she asked, wanting to hear a response.

"Yeah..."

He felt his eleven year-old heart sank, even when he didn't know the guy. There was just a familiarity to him.

His mind felt clear, for once.

"...how does _Steven Gregory Lazuli_ sound?"

* * *

Wild Card was staring at the graveyard from afar, spying on the Crystal Gems.

The soldier felt someone behind him, and made a quick glance to see who it was.

It was Pearl.

She had a tired somber look on her face.

"Seeing your son check out your grave, _Greg_?"

* * *

 **A/N:** **I need to get something off my chest.**

 **Next chapter, Peridot's leaving to Homeworld.**

 **I'm going to miss writing Peridot, the smartest person in the cast. And hey look, another popular fanfiction _Don't Even Bother_ (hi, _GlassHawk_ if you're reading!) is going to finish soon! Damn it, Peridot's leaving us! (But not on the show. If she does, which is highly unlikely, then wow, the coincidences are real.)**

 **Since it's been revealed Steven's 14 (what the hell no way), here's the reminder of the story ages: Steven is eleven. (His birthday just passed by in one of the time skips.) He's older than Connie by half a year. Connie's ten now, but in a few chapters it'll be her birthday. (You know, to mix up the usual "it's Steven's birthday!" thing going on in the archive.)**

 **Thoughts about show: As you can see, I'm excited. Though, I've been spoiled. Hopefully, they all band together nicely.**

 **It looks like Gems back then didn't know how to use their weapons. Good. Now I can just sit back and relax as I don't have to think of anything for most of the Rogue Nation's weapons as it is logical that they don't have any. Ah, life is easy.**

 **EDIT: Probably won't be active in a while because I've got exams. But I'll find a way to update soon. Or not.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: You pay your respects to the dead, right?**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Sayonara, Earth"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **JUHJ KHOSHG SHDUO ZLWK WKH JHP UHJLVWUDWLRQ DFFRUGV."**


	26. Chapter 24: Sayonara, Earth

**A/N: (make a chapter title that makes it sound like the Steven crew are going off-planet and went to Homeworld to new viewers.)**

 **Ruse accomplished.**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 24: _Sayonara, Earth_**

* * *

A month later...

Peridot woke up in bed, lying beside Amethyst who was cuddling her.

The green Gem stayed put, nice and snug, and went deeper into her embrace. She positioned her head close to her lover so that their noses would touch tips. She giggled at that, and rest on their mattress and listened to her light snores. The warm sensation filled her soul, and she was about to get into another deep trance of rest, before she realized what today was.

Today was the day.

The day she leaves Earth.

* * *

 _I'm such a coward._ She thought.

Peridot trudged past a lightpost and made her way to her personal ship. The same spaceship she used to get on Earth. She'll be using the same, untouched and normal ship, no advances in technology or upgrades. To keep suspicion low and make a safe journey. If she did upgrade it, Homeworld would observe it and go to Earth for parts. Can't let _that_ happen.

The mechanic pulled at the side of her triangular hair, as if punishing herself.

 _I'm going to leave, without a real goodbye. Just a note._ Peridot could feel her eyes stinging. _Pathetic. I hope... they could understand why I left._

She looked up at the rising sun, the spring breeze filling her with determination, feeling something cool trail down her eye.

 _It's to protect them, right?_

She reassured herself, taking a deep breath. She didn't want to freak out now. She didn't want to bail halfway through this

She didn't want to leave.

She _had_ to get back. Where? Homeworld or Earth?

Peridot sighed, continuing her walk down into the forest, straying from the sidewalk she was walking on. Deep in the mass amounts of leaf coverage, was a giant, green sphere. Peridot looked around, as her movements made cripsy and crumpled noises through the forest. It got her thinking back to when she thought to obliterate the forests seven months ago, which she then reminded herself that it wouldn't be called a forest if she did obliterate it.

Peridot's hand slid over the smooth surface of her space pod, reminiscing the times she had stayed on Earth. It was pleasant.

But Homeworld is a utopia. Most Peridots would say.

But this lone Peridot, the best one, who had self-awareness realized that it _was true_.

And that she _didn't_ like utopias.

Too perfect, she'd say.

If it were any other Peridot, they would've done their mission and get Earth destroyed by Yellow Diamond. Or, if the Gems on this planet were careful enough, they could even get a Peridot to realize that Earth is more precious and useful than Homeworld made it out to be.

And that Yellow Diamond was wrong.

Of course, our Peridot thought it would be absurd for any other Peridot to be able to comprehend it, because she prided herself greatly in her abilities. (Little did she know, there was actually a lowly Peridot in another reality that had _become_ a Crystal Gem, unlike her.) She was still loyal to Homeworld in some way, holding onto hope. But she was technically never a Crystal Gem. She was a hero to this world, but that didn't mean she fought against Homeworld.

The green mechanic opened her space pod, and it hissed as air made its way into the pressurized compartment. She was about to get in, when she heard a call for her name.

"Peridot."

And the green Gem stopped, her mind _imploding_ at the thought that someone _actually_ caught her. She feared to find out who. By all logic, she would know the Sapphire could've predicted this. But it wasn't her voice. No, it was someone else. Not the Pearl. Not Ruby. Not _Lapis_. And not Amethyst.

She knew who it was.

Seeing no escape from her friend, she turned to see the face of who found her.

Steven.

"You're leaving for Homeworld." the demigem stated, observing the circular ship. He saw Peridot's horrified face, and continued, "Sapphire told me. She told me to keep a secret."

"Of course _she'd_ know..." Peridot muttered under her breath, her expression turning bitter. Everything was going not how she'd expected. She thought she would leave quietly, since that was her plan. But no, that one-eyed prophet had to make things worse. She sighed, shoulders slumping. At least she only told Steven, if it were _Amethyst_ , oh _boy_... "Yes, I am leaving to Homeworld..."

Steven's expression softened.

"But I'm not going to betray you! Promise!" she quickly reassured, holding up a hand. "I just need to do this so Yellow Diamond won't order the Earth to get destroyed! I could _convince_ her!"

"You work for Yellow Diamond?" Steven raised a brow. "Isn't she, like, one of the bad ones?"

"Wha— _no_. No, she isn't. She's a great leader." Peridot defended. "She knows how to make good decisions. I'm sure if I could get her to realize how harmless the planet is and how they would benefit not utterly destroying it, she'll come to her senses. After all, personally, I think it would be a waste of resources destroying this planet with all the potential land that's _much_ nearer to our star system."

"Oh, so she could be reasoned with." Steven gave a sound of relief. "Phew! I thought we'd need to fight a Diamond army. I don't really feel like doing that. The Earth's been peaceful. I like it the way it is."

The two stood around silently, one of them waiting for the other.

"Sooo... you're not gonna convince me to stay?" Peridot asked.

Steven smirked. "You have a job to do, don't you, _Homeworld spy_?"

"Yeah, I kinda do..." Perry replied, looking down. "I'm gonna miss this planet."

"You're not going to return?"

"I _will_ return. It's just... gonna be a long while before another task will be made for me to get back to Earth."

"If that's the case... you wanna stay a little longer?"

"Ahah! I knew you'd try to convince me!"

"Come on, _Perry_."

"Alright, but I can't let anyone else see me."

"Why not?"

"Well... I left a note for Amethyst about my leave... She'll be upset, and I don't want to raise her hopes up seeing me here, only to have them... _plummet_ when I'm really leaving."

"Hm... I guess it'll be just you and me... Like old times."

* * *

 _Sentimental values. I never thought I would have them._

Peridot licked the purple ice cream Steven had ordered for her and himself. She had grown accustomed to food since Amethyst taught her about it. She said it could convert into a fuel source for extra Gem energy, if needed.

But Peridot knew it was to compensate for the large amounts of regenerating Amethyst had told her.

Amethyst told her about how she was reckless and was the one Crystal Gem that would need to regenerate at least once every year because of her erratic behavior. Peridot contemplated and theorized how Amethyst was still alive at this point. Normal Gems would've exhausted all their Gem energy regenerating for the... maybe eleventh or nineteenth time. (There was a strange gradient for Gem regeneration.) But Amethyst had done it over _three thousand_ times. That was a record for any Gem throughout the _entire universe_.

Something to admire of her beloved.

Ever since that discovery, Peridot had been making sure she had much intake of human food supply if she were to ever need to regenerate twenty times. That situation was unlikely, but you never know. She knew one thing. It _will_ come in handy.

"So, Steven... what are your plans for today?" Peridot asked, glancing at the demigem by her side. Steven's legs hung over the bench, dancing in the air.

"I don't know. I never planned anything for today. I was just... _here_ , ya know?" he replied. He really didn't have anything in sotre for today. Sapphire appeared out of nowhere and alerted him of Peridot's leave, so he went to the destination she told him to go. And now, here he was, having nothing to do on his best friend's final day. "So... your last day on Earth. We should go where _you_ want to go."

Peridot thought about it.

"I don't have anywhere on Earth I want to go. Except for home... And by _home_ , I mean with Amethyst, not Homeworld. Homeworld is just... too much to handle for me."

Steven grunted in response.

"Hmm. I guess... we could go to that theme park over there." Steven pointed out, towards the amusement park in Beach City. There were rollercoasters and teacup rides. His motion sickness had vanished, the benefit of his Gem powers activating on a regular basis. But, he still felt dizzy looking at it.

"It's dangerously close to the Crystal Temple." she assessed, her floating fingers wiping off the grape-flavored ice cream off her cheek. Peridot licked around her lips if she had any purple ice cream on it.

She picked grape-flavored ice cream in the first place, because... reasons.

"Sapphire already knows you're still here." Steven stated, leaning back into the bench. "Are you sure you still have time to stay?"

"I'm positive I could delay coming back for a day." Peridot responded, leaning back into the bench like him. She contemplated at the cloudless sky for a moment. "Space travel is... full of laws. I could lie to them about the natural distortions of dark matter affecting my travel. After all, space _is_ space. Very sophisticated and irrational."

"I don't understand a word of what you just said." he said, blankly staring at the same atmosphere as she did.

"Doesn't matter. Simple explanation: I could make up reasons." Peridot raised her ice cream cone high, observing the waffle biscuit from below. The ice cream was melting and was on the verge of dripping, before she wiped it with the tissue the ice cream cones came with. "You don't have to worry about me, I'm the _great_ Peridot after all."

"You're the great _Perry_." he corrected.

"Heh, you're reminding me of when we went to " _school_ "."

"I _still_ go to school."

"Never mind _that_ place... How is Connie?"

"She's doing great... I guess. Lapis told me a while ago that behind my back, Connie's been asking her for training. And, well, Lapis said she's progressing quickly for a human. She said she couldn't keep up with Connie in their sword battles, and Connie wouldn't even come to terms that she was able to defeat Lapis and says it's because she wasn't going all out. Of course, I was told about this from Lapis, because Connie never tells me about her training. I think she wants to keep it a secret. But it's already ruined. I should tell her I know."

"You sure talk a _lot_ about Connie." Peridot remarked, grinning to herself.

"Uh, yeah. I guess I do." he responded absentmindedly.

* * *

"Amethyst, what are you doing?"

Amethyst glanced back at Sapphire, who hovered her way to the supercomputer she was working on. The purple leader was using Peridot's gift to track down Gem energy signals, and she had one in mind that she wanted to check on.

"Peridot forgets that I'm smart in a way." Amethyst answered, tapping a button and the screen on the giant computer zoomed in on one location on the planet. There was coding for unrelated notices and a bunch of other descriptions, but Peridot's name was the main attraction to the screen, and it informed that said Gem was still in Beach City.

The purple Gem picked up a white note and gave it to Sapphire, letting her read the contents of Peridot's formal letter of leave.

"She thinks she can run away from _me_? The _awesome_ Amethyst? She's got another thing coming." she stated, starting to jog her way out of the Crystal Temple. "She will _not_ leave the Earth _without_ _me_ giving _her_ a _proper_ goodbye. That scaredy-cat."

Sapphire looked up from the short note, and sighed as Amethyst disappeared from her view. She would have found out eventually. No point in telling her in advance like she did with Steven.

Amethyst entered the cave again, wondering about something.

"Hey, uh, have you seen Ruby anywhere? I haven't seen her since I dropped her off last month."

"Last I heard, she said she went off to train. In my vision, she acquired a new set of skills." Sapphire informed in monotone.

"Ooo, _fancy_." Amethyst remarked, "Anyways, gonna go get Peridot a gift to remind her of me. I'm thinking Vidalia still keeps her paintings. Can you check for me?"

"Yes, she does."

"Great! Thanks for abusing your powers for me." Amethyst waved a mock salute and transformed into an owl. The shapeshifter flew off into the sky.

 _That was the most eventful thing that has happened in a month._ The icy blue Gem thought. _Strange how interesting stories play out when at least a month passes by. It's a nice correlation. I don't want this peace to end. But in the month of September, it's going to be hectic again. Sigh..._

 _Best to treasure this peace for now._

* * *

Peridot was glad to say she understood more now than when she first met Steven.

The demigem had been rather melancholic and empty, due to all that's happened so far. His father was dead, he wasn't sure about the Earth's government (which was everywhere), and Peridot was going to leave soon. Not a healthy thing for a child to endure alone.

And also his origins. He couldn't really get over how, what he thought was, _his_ _mom_ , told him to become the bridge between Gems and humans. He was doing a bad job at that, since he couldn't stand up to the world leaders a month ago. He was failing his purpose in life and his supposed destiny went to other Gems, like Peridot and Lapis. They both saved the world, they were _real_ heroes. All he did was pull a thing out of his mother's arsenal.

Perry could see that distant look in his eyes. She knew he was being bothered by something.

"Hey, Steven."

"Yeah?"

"Since it's my last day... I wonder if..." She shook her head, thinking it would be best to try a different approach than the blunt one. He was young and curious, the perfect time to teach him the ways of alien colonization. "...never mind. Do you want to see the stars?"

"Uh, why?"

"I want to explain... _something_."

"Uh, you want to explain the star systems and whatnot? Or Homeworld?"

"Not really."

Peridot pressed the side of her visor, changing the settings so that it could display the cosmic radiation of stars from lightyears away, and took off the visor. She placed the device over Steven's eyes, letting him watch the energy of stars glimmer from across space and time. The light display of energy signals came from lightyears away, so it was best to assume it was outdated by now.

Steven was still enamored by the sights he saw.

Peridot pointed in a direction, and Steven followed her finger to gaze at a cluster of lights, sparkling in his eyes.

A beautiful bright star, with an eclipse of white dust surrounding it.

"That star system is called _Lumos_." she informed, and he awed at it. "Right now, you see the light and energy of a sun in that system, and its surrounding planets glancing off solar radiation... But really, that's in the past. That system is seventy-nine light years away. And I know this because I've seen data reports of Homeworld's armies already snuffing out the sun."

"... _Harsh_." he remarked. "That solar system looked beautiful."

"That happened twenty-two years ago. In fifty-sevenyears, that will cease to exist in any telescope." she said grimly, "This star system is much farther from Homeworld's radius. Homeworld is fifth lightyears away, and Lumos was in its vicinity, so they took advantage of the system to get space for our advances." she paused, taking the time to think of her next words. "At one point, I thought that was the right thing to do; increase our control over the universe. I thought, that Lumos system would make a good place for Kindergartens with all the planets inhabiting it."

"And now you don't." Steven finished for her. She nodded.

"But I guess, there weren't any life forms to value in that system to begin with... But, Homeworld has been sending troops to evaluate nearby star systems if they're valuable enough to colonize. If they are, then they'll take priority and be the next ones on the list to purge. If not, then... they take backseat and wait another couple decades. I was tasked to additionally be a spy on this star system instead of just doing normal troop stuff. I guess they knew what was going on here and were asking me if they needed to take charge and kill anyone."

"So?"

"The only thing I'll need to do is tell them that everyone here is dead. Then they'll take less priority because this star system doesn't have that much value and could be taken any other time in the future." Peridot replied nonchalantly. "After that, I'll just fake my death, come back, and try to prepare for the next twenty-thirty years of the imminent battle between Homeworld and Earth..."

Steven looked around the sky, seeing a reality of stars that twinkled. He wondered if he was looking at radiation signals that were already actually gone in present time.

"Now I told you this because you shouldn't spend your time being glum all the time! Think about the positives! You're young now, there's no need for you to be as tough as your mother, we all love you as a small child. And _my_ opinion isn't biased." she grinned, hoping he would do too. Her efforts were rewarded with the boy showing a small smile. "You can be all dark and broody when the Diamond Authority finally comes here! Besides, you look better happy and I don't think anyone would like it if you looked dead all the time, _especially_ Connie... and, ugh... _Lapis_. That blue _clod_. Always rambling about a death machine nowadays."

A silence washed over them, all sound were as gone as the wind. Steven observed more solar systems our of his galaxy as Peridot enjoyed this peace.

"How long till you come back?" the demigem hybrid piped up.

"I'd say, the time taken to file reports and the next time I'll be sent on a mission... Eh, could take a year." Peridot shrugged. "Worst case scenario is that they found out the truth about Earth and send me and an army to investigate it. If that happens, my code is Peridot nine-two-eight. It'll be easier to find me that way."

"Did you tell Amethyst this?"

"Well, of course she'd know. I tell her everything." Peridot stated, taking back her visor and putting it on. "I just...—oh. Oh no." she gasped, spotting her girlfriend walking towards them. Peridot instantly stood up from the bench. "How did she... oh stars, she used the supercomputer, didn't she?"

Steven kicked his legs to and fro, seeing nothing wrong with this confrontation. Except that Peridot explained to him that Amethyst's spirits would drop like a brick. But the expression on that purple Gem's face didn't speak to him like depression or sorrow.

"PERIDOT!"

Amethyst gritted her teeth, stomping her way to the green Gem.

"Uh..." the mechanic trailed away.

"Peri, you wrote the _worst_ note _ever_ , it had a maximum of a _whopping_ SIX words, and that was including your _name_ , and the whole content of this note was just a cheesy phrase from a sappy love story!" Amethyst exclaimed, holding up the letter she wrote, and its contents were still visible to anyone looking at it. After all, there were only six words.

It wrote:

I promise I will return.

— Peridot

"What was _I_ supposed to do about that?" Peridot argued, pointing at her. "I thought it would fit perfectly! After all... _you_ like sappy love stories!"

"Y-Yeah?" Amethyst blushed, her hidden secret was heard of by a crowd of... Steven. Realizing this, her flustered expression turned back into her usual cool composure. "Oh, I don't know. You could've made it better, like putting some more _effort_ into it. You could've written it on a headshot of you flipping me off and I would've at least accepted it!"

"Why would _anyone_ accept such a vulgar picture?!" Peridot countered, yelling as if she was talking to the sky.

"Uh, _hello_? Look who you're talking to!" Amethyst flailed her arms around, laughing as she spoke. "My room is _literally_ a garbage dump!"

"Well..." Peridot tried to rebuke, but found no other arguments. Her eyes looked down at the ground, her stern expression still as she tried to find something to say. "...You make a fair point."

"It's always good to have a leader with sharp persuasion skills." Amethyst stated.

"I think a mechanic is better." she retorted.

A sultry smirk made its way onto the purple Gem's lips.

"I'm gonna miss you, Peridot."

"I love you too, Amethyst."

"Wrong response. Too straight to the point." she stated with a flat tone. Her hand patted Steven on the shoulder, smiling warmly at her girlfriend. "Kid's here. He's not meant to hear such passionate words."

"It's okay." the demigem replied, looking up at her. "Perry's leaving anyway. You two should kiss-kiss and then we'll all be happy."

"Oh, _kiss-kiss_?" the purple Gem chuckled, keeping her eye on Peridot.

A blush crept onto the technician's face as she looked away, sweating nervously.

"Yeah!" Steven was enthusiastic about the idea, making kissy noises and puffing up his lips. He glanced at Peridot, reminding himself that despite everything that's happening, it won't be as bad as the future! So keep smiling. "Besides, I think you've done it before. And Peridot just confessed her undying love for you! It's the _perfect_ time!"

"She confessed a long time ago, Ste-man." Amethyst ruffled his hair tenderly. "But, yeah, it'll be a complete goodbye."

"You're not mad at me for leaving?" Peridot asked in almost a whimper.

"I'm hiding it _really well_ , aren't I?" Amethyst retorted jokingly. She took a step forward and neared Peridot, who was clearly nervous. There was a question Amethyst had been thinking to ask.

It's been on her mind for quite some time.

"Are you sure you don't want to know how it's like to fuse?" the Kindergarten Gem asked.

"Oh, I'm sure." she replied firmly.

The mechanic had been traumatized of fusions ever since they fought Opals, and didn't really like the idea of it anymore. After that, she had been restrictive about fusing and even requested Amethyst to promise not to fuse whenever she's around. It was... kind of awkward, but Amethyst loved experiencing ways like humans do, so she was fine with it. But now that Perry's leaving, she won't know what it's like to really be with her.

"You're... _sure_? You're gonna miss out on a lot of things, like... what we look like together?"

"Affirmative."

"Wait, fusion isn't exclusive to two particular Gems?" Steven asked, eyes darting from Peridot to Amethyst, waiting for an answer. He got a head shake from Amethyst, so it meant to him all Gems could fuse with each other. "That's _so cool_. Why don't Gems stay fused all the time?"

"There was a time when Ruby and Sapphire were fused all the time." Amethyst answered before it was too late. A frown took over her features. "That's a touchy subject. Don't look into that."

"Ruby and Sapphire? Oh man, I would've never thought! I mean, they're so... _opposite_!" the demigem stated.

Deciding it wouldn't harm anyone if the kid knew, Amethyst delved deeper into the topic.

"They were close to a perfect fusion. It didn't work out. And there's a reason why Gems don't stay fused all the time. It's like... two personalities needing to work together with a third personality, which is the fusion." Amethyst explained, with Peridot shuddering about the thought.

"The fusion has a mind of its own?" His mind exploded. It had just opened to new things in life. He _must_ to discuss this with Connie later.

"Yep. Then that's when all hell breaks loose because we can't keep perfect harmony for too long. Someday we'd just disagree on one thing and BAM!" Amethyst waved her hands around like an explosion. "No more fusion."

"Hey, Peridot, why don't you try it with Amethyst?" he asked inquisitively.

"Why don't _you_ try it with Connie?" Peridot retorted, thinking it was the best comeback she made so far, then she crossed her arms and grinned smugly.

"Well, that's another topic you'll be learning when you grow up later in life!" Amethyst chimed in abruptly, interrupting and making a stop to all thoughts of a fusion between Steven and this "Connie" they were talking about.

Perry shifted to another topic to discuss, because Perry could, wishing she could linger a bit longer with these dorks she called friends.

"Amethyst, fusion might be your thing. But uh... I'm not comfortable with it. At all. Like... it scares me. And I have a _very_ good reason of why." Peridot said, pumping her chest with her mechanical fist proudly.

"Because you were raised on Homeworld?" she quickly guessed.

Slowly, Perry answered, "No." She looked around cautiously. "What gave you _that_ idea?"

"Well, you're going back, so... Oh right! That reminds me!" Amethyst shapeshifted her stretched her arm into a sphere, before popping it and revealing a framed painting of her. She caught it with her other hand, then shapshifted her missing limb into place. "I meant to give you this, you know, to _remember how I look and make a good goodbye note_."

Peridot facepalmed, but at the same time she couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Really? That note was made just a few hours ago and you already topped me?"

"I brought permanent markers so I could make an actual note. Steven, here, have a pen." Amethyst gave him a marker and he uncapped it to start writing on the canvas. Both wrote their messages, with Steven ending his with a drawing of Peridot, Amethyst, Connie and himself, while Amethyst just drew a monocle and a top hat on herself.

They gave the photo to Peridot, who gratefully accepted the offering.

"Thanks, guys..."

She read their words.

Wherever you are Perry, know that you'll always be our friend. Your home is on Earth and you're welcome back here anytime! You'll always be loved by us, if Homeworld doesn't love you back that is. You're a great friend and a hero. Always remember!

— Steven

Then she read Amethyst's.

Don't die on me, you clod. Return ASAP

Love, Amethyst

Peridot sneered.

"Your letter is just as bad as mine."

"Hey, returning you the favor." Amethyst shrugged, "You can thank me anytime."

"Steven, your letter is..." Peridot blinked, her throat tightening with her emotions. "...I'll remember your words. This time I'll take them seriously." Steven's eyes were filled with stars.

Peridot then started to walk away.

Amethyst's smile fell.

"Wait, you're leaving already?"

"And literally without a goodbye." he remarked.

Perry turned back to face them. "Well, if you're that impatient. Bye." She waved at them. "The sooner I get back, the sooner things go smoothly. I'm on borrowed time, remember?"

"Oh yeah, you're late for work." Steven joked.

Amethyst ran up to her, and pressed her lips firmly against Peridot's. Steven squealed as he watched his best friend return the kiss. The two held each other in their grasp for a few more moments, Amethyst pulling her body closer and Peridot cupping her cheek in her hand. The two parted after a while, faces hot and saliva mixed.

Peridot blushed, mouth agape, as Amethyst laughed at her stunned reaction.

"You were hurrying somewhere?" the purple Gem snickered.

"I'll... I'll go now." Peridot whispered, touching her own lips and rushing to her space pod. She tried to focus as she was reimagining how that kiss went down.

Amethyst waved at her.

"Don't die coming back or I will _seriously_ kill you!" she barked.

"And don't die when _I_ come back because I will "seriously kill you" too!" Peridot retorted, glancing back to look at her one last time.

Steven was beside Amethyst, cupping his mouth.

"Perry! Make sure not to wash that mouth!" he advised.

"You're disgusting, Steven!" the mechanic yelled back, hopping into her space ship.

"Hey, listen to that boy's advice!" Amethyst shouted, the three chuckling afterwards.

"Take care of the AMEDOT for me!" Perry reminded, closing off the ship's doors.

"Will do!"

"Take care everyone! Or, just the two of you! _I love you guys!_ " Peridot's voice boomed through the space pod's speakers. The shuttle hovered off the ground, and started to make its way into the sky. Slowly, just to keep an image of both Steven and Amethyst waving up at her.

Then, in a flash of light, the shuttle vanished into space at warp speed.

The two stopped waving, and watched the skies.

In a matter of minutes, the sky turned red. Then it turned navy blue, with specks of white littered across the view.

Both watched the stars glimmer.

"I miss her already."

Steven leaned against Amethyst's arm.

"We all do."

* * *

 **A/N: I could've left this with the original intention of "only Steven and Peridot go to a carnival and enjoy themselves, then say goodbye", like I wrote here on my note.**

 ***points at a sticky note next to a stack of note sheets***

 ***throws stack of note sheets over the room***

 ***notes fly everywhere***

 **BUT NOPE, AMEDOT PREVAILS ONCE AGAIN. AND IT DID SOMETHING GOOD! It made Peridot's leave even better in my opinion.**

 **THIS is _Candy-Vegetto_ publication right here. Our main goal? Make long chapters. Quality? Nonono _no_ , we throw that garbage in there every once in a month.**

 ***goes back into a memorable topic***

 **Long chapters, my fierce enemy, my OCD keeps acting up when I only make 2k words. You could only imagine my joy making that 17k word document for chapter 20. That shit took two weeks to make. Two weeks of thinking extremely irrational yet epic ideas and procrastination.**

 **Since I'm really eager to get to the second(?) major villain in this ridiculous story, I've been working on the other three chapters simultaneously. I guess I'll go ahead and reveal all three titles while I'm at it, huh? Nothing is sacred, so let's do it!**

 **TO CELEBRATE 37,000 VIEWS:**

25: _Lion: The Reboot_

26: _Birthday Magic_

27: _Rogue Time_

 **Bonus fun fact! Peridot's code: _928_ is the date of this story's publication. September... 28.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: Peridot leaves Earth. Goodbye, Earth!**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Lion: The Reboot"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **SHULGRW ZLOO EH PLVVLQJ."**


	27. Chapter 25: Lion: The Reboot

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 25: _Lion: The Reboot_**

* * *

A month later...

It was May, the fifth month of the year.

Nothing special, just a month after Peridot left the stratosphere and nobody's ever heard from her since.

Also, it was May, the month Lapis promised to take Connie and Steven out on a _real_ mission.

Oh right, you were never informed...

* * *

"Psst, Steven!"

The demigem groaned in his sleep, gripping his blanket.

"Steven! Steven, wake up! It's four in the morning!"

"Connieee..." he slid his head underneath the pillow, his voice muffled from the soft rectangular bag of feathers. "We still have fourrr hourrrs..."

"I know! I know! I'm just really excited!" she whispered.

"If it makes you feel any better, this will also be the first time I'll accompany the Crystal Gems on a mission." Steven replied, still hiding under the covers. He could feel Connie's presence looming over him. "Go back to sleep please."

"Fine..." Connie rolled her eyes, and scurried back to the guest room, where she had been inhabiting whenever she stayed overnight.

Her parents recently found out she was visiting friends in secrecy, and were proud of her for making friends. But, they didn't really trust Lapis and Steven much until they had met them in person. So far, they've given Lapis their full trust on taking care of Connie for some reason. But to Connie's perspective, it seemed like Lapis told _Steven_ to order her parents to do that. So... it was _complicated_. Nevertheless, she was able to spend time in Steven's place for a maximum of a night a week. So, there's _that_.

As for the upcoming mission. There were still four hours.

She could wait it out...

The human crept onto the bed, lying over the covers like a log.

Then she waited.

And waited.

A minute passed by, and she continued waiting.

It was uneventful and boring.

"It's _so_ quiet." Connie thought out loud with wide eyes staring into the dark ceiling.

In four hours, she'll go on a mission with people who are practically gods. Lapis had been training her, and she's even beaten the water Gem on numerous occasions, but those were only sword battles. She couldn't wait to show to Steven how strong she had become. Maybe this mission will test her limits and skills, or maybe her mind, or stamina, or speed? Who knows?

She just wanted today to come sooner.

"How long has it been since Peridot's been gone?" Connie wondered to herself, already missing the quirky green Gem.

Perry was her friend too. And her friends came in short supply. She learned to treasure them. Peridot didn't come to school all that often after the Amber tragedy. Then, the only times Connie got to see her was by visiting her. It felt like Peridot had grown into an old woman, while Connie stayed a child.

"Has it been a month?" she sighed, "Feels like a _year_."

Her eyelids felt heavy.

It wouldn't be a surprise to Steven if she showed off her abilities to him. It wouldn't even come to him as a small shock, since Lapis revealed to her that she told him about the training. Now the surprise she wanted to give him was ruined.

 _Oh well, I guess it's better now that I'm not going to wait and watch nothing in the next battles they have. I can take care of myself now. I can finally see them fight_ all-out _._ She thought excitedly. _I could watch Gems kicking other evil Gem butts in all their glory. I wouldn't be waiting by the television for updates anymore... cause I'll be there. With_ Steven _._

She began to drone on and on about the future, thinking about how Peridot might miss all the action. Or, Peridot would return before anything major happened and then Connie would surprise her with her skills. Oh, the look on her face when she sees Connie beating up Gems she couldn't beat, it would be priceless!

Connie smiled as she went on to dream.

And her dream was weird.

* * *

 _"The most exciting thing in my life is tennis practice. Forehand! Backhand! Overhead death strike!"_

 _"You have a pet lion?!"_

 _"Then you'll be like me, that's not so bad."_

 _"You don't need powers to be here with me."_

 _"Steven! Steven? Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?"_

 _"Say it to my face! Say you don't wanna be friends anymore! If you can do that—If you can do that, I'll leave you alone. Then I'll just go back to having no friends. But I won't believe it until you say it to my face!"_

 _"I've been worried sick all day, what do you think I've been doing here?"_

 _"I want to, Steven. I want to be a part of your universe."_

 _"I_ _don't know what will happen in the future, but if something dangerous comes along, I don't want to be a burden, I wanna help! I want to be there for Steven, to fight by his side! The Earth is my home too, can't I help protect it?"_

 _"Deep down, I know that I'm just a human but I know that I can draw my sword and fight!"_

 _"With my short existence, I can make a difference. I can be there for him, I can be his knight."_

 _"I'll do it for him."_

 _"No, Steven. I understand now! Your legacy, your destiny... You are everything! ...And I, I am nothing... But I can do this for you! I can give you my service!"_

 _"Steven... I'm doing this for you!"_

 _"I need to be able to protect you!"_

 _"Okay... thats good. You know, to be honest, I was a little worried before, this might sound silly but, I'm really glad that I'm going to get grow up with you."_

 _"Yeah, I just want to be there for Steven. Don't worry Steven, it doesn't matter to me what age it seems like you are, I wanna hang out with you no matter what. Your dad still has his carwash and the gems have to do gem stuff so I'll watch you when they're not around. I can come see you after I'm done training with Pearl too. Doesn't that sound fun?"_

 _"Of course it is. I like you just the way you are."_

* * *

"Connie? Wake up. Uh... wow, you drool a lot."

"Huzz.. Huh, wha...?" Connie woke up from her dream, saliva shown on the side of her mouth.

"It's eight. Wanna wake up or go back to sleep?" the demigem asked.

She shuffled around the covers, wondering how the blanket was draped over her. She didn't have this when she went to bed. She looked at Steven.

"Did you put the blanket over me?" she asked, a light blush crossed her face.

Confused, his response was, "What?"

"Oh. So, by process of elimination it must've been Lapis." Connie said, confusing Steven even more.

"Okay." he got off the edge of the bed, walking to the door. "Breakfast is ready. It's bacon and eggs and pancakes."

"Oh. Thank you, Steven." Connie replied, managing the blankets.

"You're welcome, sleeping beauty." the demigem responded, leaving the room with a chuckle at his own joke.

Connie watched as he left the room, then contemplated on her dream.

 _What_ was _that? It felt like I was living another life..._ She mused, moving to the side of the bed and leaving her legs out. _There was a pink lion... a white woman training me the same way as Lapis? And then I celebrated Steven's birthday? That was a mess._

She got out of bed, tidied the room, gone to the bathroom to wash herself, and finally went to the dining area of the apartment, where Steven and Lapis had already started digging into their plates of food. Connie could smell the smoking bacon and sweet honey in the air, and got onto her seat of the table. She took a fork and started eating as well.

"I had a weird dream." Connie informed through her munches. It was impolite, but Lapis welcomed it. The girl saw Lapis as the cool mother she never had, and she returned by seeing Connie as the daughter she never had... since, well, Steven was also the son Lapis never had. A lot of substitution went around in this _family_.

"And I'm guessing you wanted to share it with us." Lapis replied, prodding her food around. She left her plate half-eaten and focused on Connie. "What was it?"

Connie closed her eyes, trying to keep her memory stable.

"I saw a pink lion... had a picnic with Steven... talked about something about a story? Then I was being trained by this white woman who then fought Steven and I. She trained me the same way _you_ trained me in sword fighting... And then I celebrated Steven's, uh... _fourteenth_ birthday? And then he was taller than me all of the sudden and then he turned into a _baby_?"

"I'm eleven." Steven stated, utterly confused. His plate was empty since he finished everything. "And I'm clearly not a tall baby."

"Uh. Yes. Yes, you are." Lapis started pinching his cheeks, embarrassing the boy in front of Connie.

"Lapis, stooop." said the blushing demigem, lightly pushing her arms away.

"Anyway, describe this _white woman_." Lapis inquired, interested. She faced Connie and let go of Steven. Connie was confused at why she wanted to know more of a weird dream, but just thought that she was interested for the reason of entertainment; Lapis was bored.

"Uh... she had pink hair, wore a blue dress and orange shorts. Pink boots? And has a... _sorta_..." Connie stopped focusing on her food and looked at the two, and both were watching her like a hawk. She tried to think of the right words to say next. "...aggressive complexion in turning me into her? Like, turning me into a slave to Steven?"

"That's weird. Please don't continue." Steven pleaded, covering his ears. He didn't want to know any more of this lewd thing she was talking about. This dream didn't sound child-friendly anymore, even though he was older than her.

"So, you're saying that white woman is a slave to..." Lapis slowly turned her head to the young demigem. "... _Steven_?"

"No... I don't know. Something about sacrificing her life to a big woman?" Connie responded.

 _Oh no..._ Lapis thought, brushing her hands through her hair. _...Pearl? She's the only one qualified. Blue dress, pink hair, pink socks and shorts... I copied her sword fighting skills. And to top it all of... Pearl worships Rose Quartz, and she is a big woman I have to say. But that doesn't make any sense. Connie's never met Pearl before, how could she have dreams about her?_

The blue Gem leaned over and pressed her palm against Connie's neck, before trying to feel her forehead. She tried to make sure her temperature was that of an average human's.

"Why are you feeling my neck and forehead?" the human asked.

"Checking if you have a fever." she answered, returning back to her seat.

"How does having a fever give me strange dreams?" Connie asked curiously. It was must a dream, wasn't it? Nothing too important and world changing. It should be a coincidence for Lapis to _need_ to check her state.

"I don't know, Steven tells me he gets weird dreams whenever he has fevers." Lapis informed, going to his side and removing his hands from his ears. The boy squirmed, not wanting to know anything he didn't need to know. But once he realized they stopped talking about it, he decided to let go of squirming. "Last time he did that, he told me he was the last surviving human on the planet Earth, a thousand years after a giant mushroom war. And then he had a dog. Sounds like the opportune dream, doesn't it?"

"Well... dreams happen when the logic system in our brains are shut down... And only one side of our brain is working, then we're just in a hallucinating reality where we don't question logic because we literally had no logic." Connie stated, fishing her pancake and placing it over the bacon. "I guess that's why I went along with the dream."

"Doesn't everyone go along with their dream?" Steven asked, raising a brow.

"Okay! In conclusion, dreams are weird. Case closed." Lapis announced suddenly, taking her plate and Steven's plate to wash them and position them to their rightful place; the top kitchen cabinet. "Now, finish your breakfast. We're leaving in ten."

* * *

The three arrived at the Crystal Temple in no time. After all, the city they lived in was clost to Beach City, in Lapis' eyes. She could fly there in minutes.

They entered the cave, finding the Crystal Gems were they expected them to be. Sapphire waiting on the Warp Pad, Amethyst checking on locations on the supercomputer, while surprisingly, Ruby was finally back and... she was checking out a pebble. The red Gem was crouching and had stacked ten pebbles on top of each other, mostly stemming from her boredom.

What was unsettling about this innocent scene was the vehicle that sat next to Sapphire on the Warp Pad. It was an all-terrain vehicle, had four giant whels and seated only one person. It had a green paint job and some decorative stickers of hearts that Sapphire was humorously placing. And there was a license plate on the front that wrote AMEDOT, so it was safe to assume it was Amethyst's. But it was too small for the giant, bronze pirate ship they had all known. So, what was this?

Was this vehicle just an escape vehicle or a substitute for the giant ship? Or... something?

In other news, everybody looked the same as they always did, which Lapis noted. Except for Ruby, who had a new black belt with a star-shaped buckle on it. Said blue Gem noticed the slight change, and snickered inwardly.

" _You_ look different." the water Gem pointed at Ruby. "Did you regenerate?"

"Uh..." the hotheaded Gem paused her rock game, looking away. "...yes."

Lapis almost let out an insensitive cackle, which surprised both kids at her side. The young human swordswoman didn't know such ruthlessness could originate from her mentor.

"Wh-What did you get _poofed_ by?" she stammered a bit, trying to hold in her unadulterated joy. Steven and Connie slowly walked over to Sapphire, who was silently humming a tune and placing embarrassing stickers she got for free on Amethyst's dirt vehicle.

"I was training! And my physical body gave out from the stress! That's how intense it was!" Ruby defended, the tone of her voice was the equivalent of a dog barking in her face. Lapis' wide, joyful eyes dimmed with disappointment. She thought there would be an entertaining story behind it, but look no further, this was Ruby she was talking about. That fiery Gem wouldn't let anything shameful get past her pride.

Amethyst walked in, and came up with the most random answer she could think of off the top of her head.

"I smacked her across the face with a wrench." the Kindergarten Gem bluntly said.

"Now _that's_ an answer!" Lapis raised her hand at her. "High five!"

The two Gems slapped each other's palms with a gratifying snap in the air.

Ruby mumbled offenses under her breath, confused at how the two got along.

"How is that even funny?" the red Gem muttered, glancing at her tower of rocks. She kicked it over, but the pebbles didn't scatter around. They had melted into each other, so that when they cooled off, it was just a permanent tower of Ruby's boredom.

Amethyst approached Steven and Connie, while Ruby and Lapis had their little mental bout.

"Yo, Ste-man! How's it going, bud?" the purple Gem asked enthusiastically, slapping a hand on his back. Steven wondered if this display of joy was just a facade, because Peridot was gone. Amethyst laid her eyes on Connie, and stood in between them. "Hey, you're _Connie_ , right?"

"Uh... yes." Connie answered bewilderedly.

"Great! Steven's told me a lot about you! He told me... uh... well, it's been a month. I sorta kinda forgot." Amethyst remarked, rubbing her chin to focus. "But, I know you're an _excellent_ girl! Best human youth I know right about now."

"Yeah... a _month_... you're _Amethyst_ , right?" she asked.

"The one _and_ only." the Gem pumped her chest proudly. "Well, probably? I'm not sure. There _are_ some Amethysts out there. But I'm the leader of the Crystal Gems, so uh... yeah."

 _Oh. Ohhh._ The human thought. _She and Peridot... They loved each other. And now that Peridot's gone, she's... well, the same? I guess._ Connie sighed inwardly. _Why did you have to leave, Perry? Everything feels more empty without you._

"But, as you have heard from moments ago, _I'm_ the leader of the Crystal Gems, because none of these losers wanna take that place." Amethyst informed. She turned to Sapphire, "Sorry, no offense."

"None taken." the icy Gem replied.

"You're always like that." she remarked, staring boredly at her.

"When am I never like this?" Sapphire retorted.

"Fair point, fair point." Amethyst turned back to Connie and Steven, squeezing them in her grasp. "Anyway, it's gonna be your first mission with us, yay!" The Gem's eagerness lessened. "But, uh... it's not gonna be that eventful."

"Why?" both asked simultaneously, neither feeling awkward that they had said the same thing at the same time.

"Well, lately we've only been spying on Gem activity. Not confronting them. Mostly because they haven't done anything wrong yet." Amethyst informed, "We don't think it's fair to punish them for something they haven't done yet or weren't responsible for. At least, that's what I've declared. Or, more rather, that's what both Lapis and Ruby declared months ago."

"Oh, that's... okay, I guess." Connie said, disappointed she won't get to show off her abilities to Steven. It wasn't like this was her only chance, there was still a future ahead of them. There should be at least one event that she could show it off.

* * *

After a few minutes...

The Crystal Gems and Team Gem Squad warped into a desert.

There was heat, sand, and the cloudless sky.

Perfect for Gems that want to stay out of human civilization.

But that didn't stop the Crystal Gems, because they're the same alien race that have the ability to endure such situations. Except for Steven and Connie. The two were riding Amethyst's dirt bike, so that their feet wouldn't melt from the reflecting heat of sand.

Ruby embraced the scorching temperature of the desert, while Lapis rolled her eyes.

"Feel like heaven here?" the water Gem asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I've had better. Like, an active volcano." Ruby said, "Or a lava pool."

Lapis narrowed her eyes at the red Gem.

"I should start calling you _Lavagirl_." she stated, snapping her fingers at the delightful idea. "Yeah! Hey, Lavagirl—"

"Shut up!"

"—where's _Sharkboy_?!"

"AAUGHHH... you just _had_ to... You had to do it... and you had to pick that movie."

"I'm surprised you even knew where that came from."

"We've lived for thousands of years and saw the upbringing of human entertainment. Of course we'd know! Our spare time consists of reviewing the humans."

"So, uh... out of the thousand movies out there..."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up about it!"

Already far from the two, Sapphire walked with the four-wheeled dirt bike the children were, helping them with her aura of chill. It wasn't as hot as before, now with the icy Gem by their side. Amethyst was leading the way with a tracking device Peridot made for her.

"Okay, right about... two hundred meters from here." Amethyst informed, halting the vehicle's motion with a pat on the metal exterior. She pointed at a desert pyramid that was below them. "My tracker says they're locating there, so we don't need to go any further."

Steven rolled out of the ATV, while Connie hopped off it.

The youngsters looked down at the pyramid, and saw a myriad of Gems swarming the pyramid like it was a marketplace. Colors and glints of light flashed around, as Gems kept moving around the place.

"We're not allowed to approach them?" Connie inquired.

"Nope." Amethyst shook her head. "Morally unjustified."

"You sure hopped onto the "protect the Rogue Nation" bandwagon pretty quick." Sapphire remarked, "Back then you couldn't decide whether or not we should take control or not."

"Ruby made a convincing argument." Amethyst replied.

Trailing behind them, Lapis and Ruby were throwing punches and slaps all around the place.

"Water witch!"

"Bread head!"

"Wet brat!"

"Shorty!"

"H dumb O!"

"Lavagirl!"

"Sharkface!"

" _Sharkface_? I don't look like a shark!"

"Oh, you do!"

Sapphire glanced at the two bickering Gems. "You _do_ look like a shark." she told Lapis.

Ruby did a fist pump, as the ocean Gem glared at the two short Gems. "Yeah! High five—" she stopped herself immediately, at the sight of Sapphire, erasing all signs of joy from her face. "—I _mean_... good job."

Lapis chuckled at Ruby's awkwardness.

"Way to mess it the hell up, Lavagirl." the water witch informed, grinning.

"What'chu talkin' about?!" Ruby demanded, snapping her head at her..

"You know what I mean. Wink wink." Lapis snorted.

"Why... Why didn't you just _wink_?" she asked.

"I dunno." she shrugged. "Meathead."

"You son of a _bit_ —"

"It's gonna get _PG_ up in here!" Amethyst announced, cupping her mouth. She gestured to Lapis and Ruby, nudging the two kids away. "You two go ahead and... play in the sand. You can go wherever you want, don't care how far, I can always find you..." she held up the tracking device, "...but don't go near that Gem colony."

"But where do we go in the desert?" Connie asked, slinging a bag full of necessities over her head. Steven was bewildered that they even accepted leaving their side to go off and explore.

"I don't know. You could go and check that temple over there." Amethyst said, waving her hand around as her back faced them.

Steven and Connie looked back and saw a temple in the far distance. They started their hike because neither of them were courageous enough to ask for the bike. Plus, they were too prideful as children with supernatural abilities. Well, they acted like it, just because Lapis did it enough times for them to think it was cool.

"Why did we even do this?" Steven asked.

"I don't know. There was nothing to do there." Connie answered, shrugging. "Guess we were bored."

"We're leaving Sapphire's presence of cool temperature. But I guess you're righ—Wait! Look!" he pointed at a pink object from afar. He exclaimed, "A lion!"

"Lions aren't pink. And they don't live in deserts." she informed.

"It _looks_ like a lion." he stated.

"But it can't be. But I _might_ be wrong. We do live in a world where Gems exist, so... race ya there!" Connie started sprinting in the sand and took the upper hand. Steven's eyes widened at the challenge.

"Hey, wait!" he called back to her, still able to catch up with his little legs. "You cheated!"

"Last one there is a rotten skeleton!" she proclaimed, wiping sweat off her forehead as she kept a fast pace.

"No way! I'm not gonna be a rotten skeleton!" Steven grunted, pushing himself and outrunning Connie, who was surprised at how quickly he already beat her.

The two youngsters made their way to the pink object, which was lying on the ground and seemingly dead. Its eyes were closed, and its pink mane heavily overshadowed its power. Its legs were stretched out to the make itself comfortable, as its tail also laid resting with its hind legs. To Steven and Connie, this lion didn't seem in any way real.

"This... it's a lion." Connie said, scratching the back of her head. She felt like she saw this creature before, but she couldn't put a finger on it. As humans have the tendency to forget dreams after a while. "But that's not possible... they can't be pink."

"A lion is a lion." Steven poked it, trying to see if it was really dead. Its skin and fur felt real, at least.

"Steven!" Connie whispered, pulling him away. "We don't know what it is! You can't just go poking things!"

"Why not?" he asked blankly.

"Well..." she poked him unexpectedly.

Steven raised a brow and poked back.

Connie poked him again.

"Okay, I see your point." the demigem admitted.

By the corner of their eyes, the pink lion yawned and stretched its limbs, surprising the two. They both yelped, bumped into each other, and scuffled away from the lion on their backs. They didn't make it that far, as the lion spotted them and moved its head toward them. The kids held each other in fear.

With her brain, Connie thought of a brilliant tactic to save their butts.

"Steven! Use your shield!"

Steven's instincts told him not to, and started shrieking. Connie, in a split second, started to follow him and shrieked as well.

The lion walked over to them, and their hearts collectively got stuck in their throats, suddenly unable to shriek. Lion flopped onto its belly inches away from them, and pawed at its snout.

Steven's fear dropped and watched the lion try to touch its nose. Connie had her eyes shut and pulled her arms around Steven tight, fearing the end of the world. The demigem leaned closer to the animal, and booped its nose. The lion blinked at the action.

"Hey, he's not so harmful!" Steven exclaimed, poking its nose again. The lion blinked again. "He's like a pacifist. He won't hurt."

Connie peeked with one eye, the first thing she saw was Steven booping the lion's snout and the lion's only reaction was to blink. Her grip on him softened, and immediately blushed at what she did and their still close proximity to each other. The young human gave a sigh of relief when the lion didn't seem like it was going to attack, all of its features were showing signs of peace.

Its tail was even bobbing around.

"Okay..." Connie still stayed near Steven, her arms wrapped around him.

Steven didn't mind the sign of affection, and continued focusing on the lion. He then poked it on its forehead, seeing if he could reach higher ground. The lion closed its eyes and let its forehead glow pink, radiating energy. Steven narrowed his eyes in curiosity, brushing his fingers against its forehead, and feeling something hard materialize.

Then, his fingers found its way on the invisible handle, and with the light glowing from his Rose Quartz Gemstone, he finally knew what to do.

In one swift motion, he pulled a bladed sword out of the lion.

Connie and Steven were struck with confusion, both having their mouth agape and eyes dilated.

"What."

"What?"

"But..."

"What."

They were completely speechless. Flabbergasted, Steven dropped the sword into the sand and stared expectingly at the lion.

The lion just bowed its head at them.

* * *

"Sapphire, are the kids going to be okay?" Amethyst asked.

"Positive." the icy Gem replied.

Ruby crossed her arms, silently muttering to herself and trying to think of insults. Lapis' eyes glossed over the Rogue Nation around the pyramid, and found that there was a throne in the middle that had Gems carrying it. She spotted someone familiar on that throne.

"Hey, look who's sitting on the throne." the water Gem said, smirking a the word "throne". How that word curled in and out like throwing something. "That _throne_. Over there. I wish I had a _throne_. Throne, throne, throne... hm, throne... thrrrone... What does _throne_ mean again?"

Amethyst looked at the Gem that was sitting in the middle of the Rogue Gems, who was clothed in black, but had red skin. She had a slim build, but all the black drapes made her look bigger. It was weird for Amethyst to ask questions to a stranger, in this case Lapis, since the past centuries had her being asked questions by strangers instead of the other way. She wasn't used to being uneducated, but she wanted an answer.

"Who's that?" the comparatively young leader asked.

"Bloodstone." Ruby said, gritting her teeth on sight of the Gem. Her brows furrowed as she berated herself for not recognizing the red and black Gem commander. She _loathed_ that Gem.

"Did you actually wait for me to ask?" Amethyst deadpanned.

"Don't you start too!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Honestly thought you were the cool one back then..." she remarked, obviously referring to Garnet. "And by _cool_ , I mean fun and stuff."

"Okay, I remember what throne means." Lapis said. "That black Gem, sitting on the _throne_ , looks like she's controlling the whole thing."

"Of course Bloodstone would do that."

" _Who's_ Bloodstone?" Amethyst questioned, throwing her arms out.

"Remember all Gems back then are trained by separate _older_ Gems to evaluate our Gemkind." Ruby informed, "Said older Gems have a title of _stone_."

Lapis shook her head. "I don't remember."

"I don't know anything." Amethyst responded like it was obvious.

"There was Moonstone, Bloodstone, Sunstone..." Ruby was interrupted by a question.

"Was there _Gemstone_?" Amethyst snickered, as Lapis did as well.

Ruby glared at the two.

* * *

Steven and Connie were starting to get over the shock of the entity known to them as Lion.

"Not harmful," Steven noted, "And has a sword that comes out of her head."

" _His_ , Steven." Connie corrected.

"You don't know that."

"It has a mane. Male lions usually have manes, while female lions don't." she informed, as Lion yawned and nodded at what she was saying, then flopped his head back onto the sand.

Steven petted the lion, ruffling his mane.

Connie inspected the sword, picking it up and placing a finger on the edge. She silently hissed as she slowly pulled away, blood marked on her thumb. She rubbed away the blood and waved her hand out to numb the pain.

 _Sharp._ She remarked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. _Just looking at it cuts me._

"Hey, Connie, look at me!"

Connie looked up from the blade and gasped at Steven sitting on the back of this magically pink lion.

"Cool, huh?" the demigem asserted, patting on the part of the lion's back behind him. "Come on up here!"

"Uh, I don't think it's safe..." Connie glanced at the lion, who was yawning. "...or productive."

"But lion's soft!" Steven plopped into its mane, feeling its hair.

The girl hesitantly walked over to Lion's side, and kept the sword in the bag she was carrying. She pulled herself up onto its back, and sat contently on the animal. She looked around, feeling satisfied for no apparent reason. Other than getting over her fear of lions.

"Huh, it's... not so bad." she said.

That's when Lion got up on its four legs, and warmed up.

"Uh..." Steven asked, gripping onto Lion's mane. "...what's going on?"

Connie balanced herself, before hanging on to Steven's shirt. "He's starting to walk. Obviously."

"I'm getting the feeling that's not all."

Lion started running over the desert plane, with the kids screaming from the thrill. The big cat got faster and faster, both of them worrying where it was taking them. Then, suddenly...

RROOAAARRR!

The sound emitted from Lion's vocal cords seemingly had enough frequency to hit a limit that made a rip into space and time and created a portal, to which Steven and Connie felt dread wash over them as they realized what they were going into.

Lion jumped into the portal before any of them could bail.

* * *

The dimension they entered was a space between all known reality, a shortcut between each and every single matter in the universe.

They had entered a space between the third dimensions and fourth dimensions.

They existed in a plane of reality nothing else ever existed in.

Lion seemed to be flying, or more likely leaping, in the space of this broken and lost dimension.

Colors whizzed past their faces, as the only thing they could comprehend were the arrows pointing in the general direction.

Connie couldn't believe her eyes. They weren't anywhere anymore. They were literally nowhere.

Steven, instead, was looking down. He spotted a cyan Gem floating on its own in this realm.

Then, Lion roared again.

* * *

Amethyst was surveying the Gem colony, making sure they had noted all of the different jobs of this working society.

"YaaAAaGHHHHhhHh!"

When Lapis suddenly screamed, and got knocked down by a pink Lion, that Steven and Connie were riding.

Ruby took a step back and looked like she was about to have a heart attack, clutching onto Amethyst's shoulder as her knees wobbled. The purple Gem helped Ruby stand back straight, but she had to admit, she was shaking a bit from that little scare.

Sapphire didn't seem to be surprised at all.

"See, I told you they were going to be okay." was all the icy Gem said.

Lapis hurriedly got back up, dusting her jacket and spitting sand. She paced around, scratching her blue hair for sand, a bit speechless from that little outburst of hers. Looking back at her kids, she found the two with wide eyes and laughing to themselves in reaction to hearing her scream. She could still feel the shock in her Gem.

"Lord... have mercy on your soul..." the ocean Gem muttered under her breath, grasping her jacket.

"Sweet!" Amethyst exclaimed, being the first one to get over the surprise. "You found loot! Told ya checking on that temple was a great idea!"

"We found Lion on our own. Not through the temple." Connie stated, heart pounding in her chest.

Amethyst crossed her arms, blowing the hair out of her eyes. "Pssh, still treasure."

"That was _cool_." Steven remarked, feeling a shiver run down his spine from the excitement. "Can we keep him?"

"Uh..." Lapis trailed away, mouth agape.

"Hah!" Ruby shouted, "Sharkface got scared shitless!"

* * *

 **A/N: So, _Don't Even Bother_ ended. I'm sure all of you know. If you don't (meaning you live under a rock), check it out, one of the best Peridemption fics out there. Recently, I made it's cover art. And I'm _super_ proud of that.**

 **And on other news, my exams are over! And, uh,** **I've noticed my author's notes are getting long, so I guess I'll make it short. Because I have other chapters in the works, but the schedule will be the same. At least, one chapter a week.**

 **(Thank the lord, so far I don't see anything from you guys about Matt Quantiny.)**

* * *

 **Breaking News: Because the episode names in the show had a play on Lion being a movie title (because dogcopter), I decided that it would be funny to keep the joke and call this a reboot to Lion.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Birthday Magic"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **FRQQLH VLGHV ZLWE VWHYHQ."**


	28. Chapter 26: Birthday Magic

**Chapter 26: Birthday Magic**

* * *

June...

"It's Connie's eleventh birthday today!"

Lapis watched the demigem's optimism bubble up. The two were alone in the apartment, thus Connie wouldn't hear his exclamation. She continued cutting newspapers with an ice scissor.

"Yep. Another trip around the sun since her last birthday." Lapis stated, holding up an article about drug abuse. Well, she owned the whole drug cartel at this point, and she wanted to be up to date with what people thought about it. "How wonderful that humans celebrate this activity to show how close you are to the possibility of certain death."

"Lapis, you're no fun." he said, frowning.

"I'm just kidding." the water Gem shrugged it off, calmly stacking up papers about the same topic and hiding it from Steven.

"You think it's funny, but it's actually really creepy, mom." Steven remarked, looking up at her with disgust. She thought it was adorable how he couldn't do such a thing.

* * *

Later...

Steven had his gift wrapped up and was ready to enter the Maheswaran household. Lapis brought a box that Steven suspected had a tree branch she picked up from the pavement a while ago. He didn't know if that would qualify as a present, but he didn't want to question Lapis' ways. She always seemed so... _bored_. Just a while ago, she was cutting newspaper articles! He didn't know what they were about, but it wasn't natural for the thought of cutting newspaper articles to suddenly come to mind.

The two walked up to the Maheswaran household, knocking on the door.

A purple bird flew onto their windowsill, looking innocent.

The door opened up, revealing Priyanka, the mother of Connie and a professional doctor. She had a smile on her face, as it was her daughter's birthday and guests had finally arrived.

"Miss Maheswaran, how are you?" Lapis asked, lending out her hand to shake. The doctor took it with glee.

"I'm fine. How's your skin discoloration doing?" she replied.

"Uh—Um..." Lapis nervously scratched the back of her hair. Of course, it was an act, she didn't have such a profound disease.

Priyanka shook her hands. "It's okay. No need to answer. I know how sensitive that topic can be. Please, enter." She opened the door wider, and let the two enter the household.

"How do you do that?" Steven whispered, as they walked into the living room of the house.

"I've lived over a thousand years, studied human emotions in ten, and combine all that experience, I'm practically an oscar-winning actor." she bragged proudly, in a low volume to keep humans from knowing her secret.

"I still wouldn't classify you as that." he retorted quietly.

"Or, you could just say I adapt pretty quick." she shrugged, then placed her hands on her hips. "And mimic lots of Pearl's emotions and character." Lapis coughed, "Oh, Rose... how I wish I could hold you longer... if only I were fast enough. Oh wait, we're Gems, you've regenerated. Easy as that."

"Uh... what?"

The blue Gem laughed forcibly. "I-I don't know. I was just..." Her smile turned into a frown. "..."

Connie ran down the stairs, enlightened by the prospect of seeing her two best friends.

"Guys, you're here!" she exclaimed, crashing into Steven and hugging him tight. She then let go and started hugging Lapis too, except not as tight. "I've been waiting like forever! I'm eleven now! Just at _your_ age!" she poked Steven on the star of his red long-sleeved shirt.

The demigem had been enamored by what she was wearing.

A purple jumpsuit with red highlights, added with her glasses with no lens. Her hair was tucked into a ponytail. She had red socks on.

"Wow, you look..." Steven trailed off, his breath taken away. Connie chuckled at him.

"...like a total dweeb, I know. And you..." She pointed at what he was wearing, which was his usual red shirt with white sleeves and sides, a big yellow star on his chest and on his shoulders that act like shoulder pads. He had blue trousers and pink sneakers. "...look like you're prepared to face _anything_."

Steven cracked a lopsided smile.

"Ya know, cause you wear it all the time." Connie joked.

"Yeah, I've been thinking of giving him combat boots to complete the look." Lapis said, rubbing her chin.

"Combat boots would look _sick_ on you!" the girl remarked, playfully punching him on the arm.

Steven winced at that, rubbing his arm to numb the pain. He didn't expect her to be so _strong_.

"I think you'd look good with combat boots too." he replied, having nothing else to add on. Lapis saw the look of awkwardness on Steven's face, and began to fade away into the background, actually going to the kitchen to get a drink.

"Yeah, but it'd suit you more." Connie told him.

Steven couldn't help but keep smiling through his embarrassment. "Why do _all_ of you agree on that?"

Amethyst arrived at the table unexpectedly, everyone staring at her in confusion. Lapis had never told Amethyst anything, and neither did the kids. Connie's parents almost had a heart attack, thinking she was a thief. Doug Maheswaran was a security guard and was about to activate his self-defense protocols, before recognizing her as a non threatening entity when Lapis and Steven approached her peacefully.

"How did you get in here?" Priyanka asked. Skin discoloration was hereditary in this universe, so the first thought she had was: _Is she a relative to them?_

"I flew into your window." Amethyst boasted, swishing her long white hair. "I was that purple pigeon in the windowsill over there."

"You... _flew_?" the professional doctor repeated, raising a brow. "And you were a... pigeon?"

Amethyst's eyes widened in realization and snapped her head at Lapis. "You didn't tell them?"

" _Amethyst_..." Lapis gritted her teeth, pinching the bridge of her nose. She turned to the the only demigem in the universe. "Steven, say they didn't hear it." she requested, sighing.

"You didn't hear it." Steven ordered to Connie's parents, his voice strong with influence. The young swordswoman was confused at how it worked so conveniently.

"Uh, what? What didn't I hear?" Doug asked curiously, scratching his head. He spotted Amethyst for the first time again. Brows furrowed, he stared at the purple-skinned girl. "Uh, who's she? A relative?"

"Yes! I invited her! And two more relatives will come over!" Lapis promptly exclaimed.

"Great! More guests. I was afraid I made too much food." Priyanka admitted, clapping her hands together in giddy.

Amethyst grinned like she never caused a problem. "Oh, _that_ won't be a problem."

KNOCK KNOCK! There was someone knocking at the door.

"Oh, that _must_ be them." Lapis said, rolling her eyes. She glared at Amethyst, who took a cup of juice from the kitchen and proceeded to hide from her gaze by drinking the cup.

"I'll get it." Connie told them, running for the door.

She opened it wide, expecting two Gems. But what she found was rather unexpecting. There was a boy from her school. The kid had blond hair, and a solemn look on his face, oozing off confidence and brashness.

" _Zack_? What are you doing here?"

"I heard it's your birthday." the blond kid replied, rather uninterested. He was wearing a formal black suit, like he was attending a funeral. But he actually wasn't. He thought this was the way how to dress good. "But that's not what I came here for. It's June, school's going to be over. I'm not coming back."

Steven walked over to Connie's side, recognizing the boy from school.

"Oh! Hey, Zack." the demigem greeted.

"Why aren't you coming back?" Connie asked, raising a brow. "And why are you telling _me_ this?"

Zack glanced at Steven, and back at the girl. He had an eerie look when he observed the chubby boy.

"I _might_ not come back."

"Wait, are you going to kill yourself?" Connie inquired of him, inwardly realizing she was a bit too blunt about it. Steven cringed at how she sounded worried for Zack, a kid their age that bullied Connie.

Zack laughed, as if it was a joke.

"No, of course not. I'm not suicidal. I'd rather say I'm more of a nihilist." the blond kid stated.

"Nihilist?" the demigem repeated inquisitively.

"It means he thinks life has no meaning." she answered, before focusing back on the task at hand. It was her birthday, yet all these problems keep showing up at her door. And she didn't know why it was happening or how it was related to her, because this jerk was definitely talking about something that did _not_ connect to her at all.

Steven lightly shrugged his head. _He did say something about being a necessary evil the first time I went to school..._

"Anyway, here's a going away present. I'm running away, if you still didn't know." Zack held out a gift box.

Steven really wanted to say he didn't care, but thought it was too insensitive for him to say.

"Uh. Thanks." Connie said, slowly taking the present. She kept her eye on him. "I'm guessing you aren't gonna stay."

"Affirmative. I'm leaving. Toodles." Zack waved and walked away.

Once he was out of proximity, Connie realized she held the gift in her hands for too long, and put it in Steven's hands. She vigorously wiped her palms on her trousers to get rid of any evidence of Zack on her.

"That was weird." the demigem remarked, "Weirder than... whatever I've ever encountered."

"What's in the box?" she asked, pointing at the present like she'd never seen it in her life before.

Steven ripped away the birthday wrapping and opened the pale box, revealing a pair of fingerless gloves. They were muddy green, like they were made specifically for military use.

"Oh." was Connie's only response. "You can have them. It'll make you look more like a soldier. Then, we can get you some combat boots. And then, you'll look like a _real_ hero."

Steven fitted the gloves and stretched his fingers, still able to maneuver them as easily as without the gloves. It kept his palms warm, so he kept them on.

"I don't think heroes rely on looks." he said.

"Well, heroes _do_ need to inspire people. They have to look good and colorful to do so." she told him.

Steven thought back to his mother's destiny for him. _I'm the bridge between Gems and humans; the best of both worlds. I saved the world with Peridot, Lapis and the Crystal Gems. Without me, Peridot said they couldn't have saved Earth... I should be proud of that, shouldn't I?_

* * *

Connie returned to the living room, where she caught her parents talking about icing on the cake and reminiscing about the past. She decided that listening to Lapis' conversation with Amethyst would be more interesting. She watched them on the sly, Lapis leaning on the wall with her leather jacket and Amethyst plopping onto the sofa.

"How did you get here?" the blue Gem demanded.

"Ughh, you and Lavagirl are _so_ rude." the shapeshifting queen remarked. "You were chill back then. What's happened?"

"I'm only being rude because you almost ruined Connie's life," Lapis snarked, "be grateful I saved your ass."

"Whatevs. Not even gonna try." Amethyst responded nonchalantly.

"You didn't answer the question." Lapis inwardly seethed, crossing her arms.

"Alright, ya caught me red-handed. Used Peri's supercomputer to hack into the Earth database and looked up Connie's birthday, then went to spy on you and Steven as a pigeon to lead me so I could testify if the information was false or not." Amethyst jumped off the couch and did a backflip onto the floor, with Lapis quickly following to block the Maheswarans' vision of Amethyst doing a stunt. "What are you doin—"

"Don't jump in this place. The Maheswarans are strict with their rules."

"C'mon now, you could get Steven to do that... Jedi mind trick. Besides," Amethyst's Gem glowed, and from its pocket dimension, came a giant present with a violet cloth draped over it. "I brought a gift just in case, and it's _big_!"

Lapis Lazuli's eyes and head gradually turned to check the Doug and Priyanka's responses, but gave a sigh of relief when she saw that they were chatting in the other room. Connie chuckled, but got startled when Steven was snickering beside her.

She turned her gaze back towards Amethyst. "Don't. Do that. Again."

"Oh, yeah..." Amethyst smacked her forehead, remembering something. "I forgot there were other things I had to do."

Lapis raised an eyebrow.

Amethyst scratched her hair.

"So." Lapis said.

"What?" Amethyst replied.

"What did you forget to do?" Lapis asked.

"Uh... What's on your ear?" Amethyst pointed at a side of Lapis' face.

"I don't..." she narrowed her eyes. "...what's on my ear?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with your... ear..." Amethyst leaned forward and picked at Lapis' hair. She dug deep, shocking the blue Gem, and quickly fished out a red Gem from her blue hair before both of them got uncomfortable with the touching.

"Whaaa..." Lapis trailed away, eyeing the giant red ruby Amethyst got from her hair. The water Gem ruffled her hair afterwards, trying to see if there was anything else in there. It didn't make sense, how did she—

VEEOOM! Ruby generated from the Gemstone in Amethyst's hand, and smacked a fist right into Lapis' face. POOWW!

"YES! PRANKED YOU HARD!" the hotheaded Gem shouted, high fiving Amethyst with a satisfying snap of the air. "All that _patience_! Yes!"

Lapis rubbed her cheek as she laid on the ground, glaring daggers at Ruby. She forgot she was in the Maheswaran household, and the punch was immediately caught by Connie's parents.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Priyanka asked, rushing into the living room. She reached over to check Lapis. "Are you alright? Are you fine? Is this red fellow a relative?" At that point, Lapis was tempted to answer no.

Ruby's parade ended, and Amethyst saved her butt by responding. "Yes! She is! This is _Ruby_."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I still don't know your name." Priyanka apologized.

"Amethyst." the purple Gem said.

" _Ethyst_?" she tried to repeat.

"No. _Amethyst_ , like the gem." she stated, with Ruby trying to hold back laughter for mistaking her name. "I didn't say "I am" if you're confused."

"Oh. Amethyst." Priyanka turned to Lapis, whispering, "Are all of your family named after gems?"

"It's more likely than you think." the water witch answered, grunting.

"So, that leaves one more guest to wait?" Doug asked, looking warily at the red Gem.

There was a knock on the door.

Connie rushed to the door, opening it.

"Hello. Happy birthday." Melancholy oozed from Sapphire's voice.

* * *

They were all sitted at the dining table. The vanilla cake had an eleventh birthday candle. Connie was the only one that was still standing, after blowing out the candles and everyone clapping.

"Honey, you don't have to stand. Have a seat." Priyanka urged.

"Yeah." Lapis said, looking disinterested. "Have a seat."

Connie took her seat, which was the long end of the dining table.

PPFFBBBFFTT!

Connie pulled up a whoopie cushion from her chair. She surveyed the table, observing everyone's concerned and lively expressions, until she came across the biggest smile her mentor had given.

" _Lapis_..." the girl groaned. The look on said Gem's face hardened.

"What? Is it not good enough for you?" the water Gem replied.

"I personally thought it was a good prank." Priyanka, Connie's mom, remarked.

Amethyst scrunched her nose at the shameless prank, thinking it was low of Lapis to use whoopie cushions when she'd been overly independent for her whole life.

"Mooommm..." Connie groaned again.

* * *

Steven cheered, "It's time to open presents! A lively time for both us outcasts!"

"If you're a member of the outcast society, say aye." Connie said.

"Aye." Steven assented cheerfully. In the back, Lapis could be seen raising a hand up and putting it down, still looking uninterested.

"And what _doth_ knight Steven gotten me?" Connie asked, faking an accent.

" _Thy_ highness," Steven bowed, lifting his present. "I _hath_ gotten _thou_ a blessing from the _scribe_ gods."

"Thank _thee_." Connie took the gift from his hands, and unwrapped it carefully. Her eyes glimmered as she saw the book title. "You got me the latest copy of Unfamiliar Familiar? _Destiny's End_?"

"Yeah! It took some chores, but I got it." Steven replied, smiling as he rubbed his fingers over his new gloves. "I... I think I have an addiction to these fingerless gloves."

Connie already started reading the pages of the book. "Boy, I hope the author gives this book an extra punch of feels! I mean, it's the _finale_ , can't be anything like a fifty page wedding cake description, right?" She peeked from the book. "Oh, what were you saying?"

Steven stared at his gloves. "I think Zack got the perfect ones."

"HEYA!" Amethyst loomed over Steven, slightly melting like butter. She shapeshifted back into her normal form when Connie's parents looked. The purple Gem hopped onto his shoulders with her small shapeshifted body composition, and leaned over to Connie to boop her nose. "I've got a surprise for you two!"

Amethyst had a wide grin on her face, hopping off Steven's shoulders and backflipping perfectly onto the carpet. She silently bumped into Lapis (who was sitting on a recliner behind them and glaring at her), and regained her cool composure.

"Ya know... I didn't know what to give you for a gift. So, I dug up something from my room, and found this! And Lapis, you can stop glaring at me or I will sock you in the face." she said all that completely with a smile. The purple Gem ripped the violet cloth from the giant mysterious present, and revealed a giant pink cannon. "A laser light cannon!"

"A... Laser light cannon? You mean the one Steven's mom built?" Connie asked with stars in her eyes, the book she was holding dropped onto the ground with a resounding tap.

Lapis opened her mouth to scold her, but no words came out.

"Heck yeah!" Amethyst exclaimed, confirming her theory.

Steven was in awe at the weapon. "This was my... _mom's_... and now Connie's?" He wasn't mad, he was pretty disappointed by how simple the cannon looked.

"Well, it's a gift for both of you." Amethyst shrugged, "You two can use it. But don't use it irresponsibly and destroy the town. Cause that will suuuck for Pearl to clean up _that_ mess."

Out of the blue, Amethyst was pulled back by a red arm. Dragging her to a private corner, Ruby gritted her teeth as she glared holes in her.

"Where did you get that thing?" Ruby demanded quickly at a soft volume.

"I think... well, Greg had placed a note on that weapon... And it was the passcode for activating it... And, uh,after he died, we scavenged all the stuff in his garage... And I might've hidden this from you—" she whispered.

"Amethyst! We could've used that!" Ruby interrupted her.

She raised a brow. "For what?"

"As a weapon against Amber. Why didn't you tell us?" the hotheaded Gem answered exasperatedly.

"Well, I didn't think it would work. I mean, it took all of us to defeat Amber. Not like the light cannon is more powerful than us." Amethyst answered.

Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose. "Amethyst, the light cannon... it's the most powerful weapon on the entire Earth. It could've saved us a bunch of times, no matter how weak it is against the combination of all our powers... It's a valuable asset!"

"And that's why I gave it to them." the leader replied, thinking this would all make sense.

"The kids can't be trusted with this thing!" she retorted. The purple Gem realized the catastrophe that could emerge if the light cannon was with the kids, but shrugged it off again.

"It's okay. They don't know what the passcode is." Amethyst reassured. "Besides, Sapphire isn't against this."

"And you'd trust _Sapphire_ —"

Amethyst stopped her there, her own cheesy smile vanished like it's never been there.

" _No_. Don't continue." Amethyst's eyes hardened, her tone serious now. "You've been avoiding her like the _plague_. The conflict between you two is _over_. The reason you two are apart is fixed; Steven's here with us, Lapis isn't the enemy. And you still choose to..." she shook her head disappointingly, "...go against her. For ten years. What is your _problem_?"

Ruby was taken aback by the sharpness in her voice.

"I've been thinking about things..." Amethyst's voice quivered. "...I-I had to say _goodbye_ to the person I love. Probably forever, who knows? And I... still can't get over it. Sure, it's been two months, but it doesn't feel like it's going to change. But _you_? I don't get how you can go ten years without Sapphire after being fused with her for _centuries_. I... _I've_ never _fused_ with Peridot."

Ruby looked ashamed.

"I never knew how it's like to _be_ with her. As our own creation. And I want to ask... have you ever felt that way towards Sapphire? Longing for the other? In those ten years of... _separation_?"

She didn't get an answer.

"If no, then thank you for revealing to me, that in my whole life... _Garnet_ wasn't a thing."

* * *

Connie started unwrapping Lapis' present for her, with the blue Gem looking over her in excitement.

Connie's curiosity met an end when she thought of an even _bigger_ question. She carefully pulled out a thin tree branch from the wrapping and the box. She stared at it intently, scratching her head as she wondered what could possibly have turned this brown piece of wood into a "wonderful" present?

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's a Gem wand." Lapis answered excitedly. Connie glanced up at her, slowly looking down at the branch in her hand.

Connie blinked, her thumb gently stroking the rigid material.

"It's a _stick_." she slowly corrected.

"Yeah..." the ocean Gem smirked, "Don't get _too_... _attached_ to it."

"Ahh... haha... _ha_." she laughed, realizing the pun. "How long did it take you to think of that? Two hours?"

"Is nothing sacred anymore?" Lapis asked, bellowing to the heavens. She shrugged off the dramatic act, and pulled out a real case from her jacket. "You're lucky you're my student, or else I wouldn't have gotten you the real thing."

Lapis handed the gray case over to Connie, who opened it and took out the small staff. It looked like an actual wand. It had a silver handle, and a spiral that made its way to the tip of a _comparatively_ giant golden star. The back end of the wand had a strip of gold hanging from it.

"Woah..."

"So, the Gem wand." Lapis looked down at her disciple expectingly. "Want to abuse its power in the Ancient Gem Arena?"

Connie thought back to the Gem arena she was talking about.

* * *

 _Flashback..._

 _"Alright, this ancient place better not fall on us now." Lapis remarked, stomping on the tiled floor._

 _The two were up above the sky, on a hovering Gem arena. Clouds were everywhere, obscuring the sight of the Earth below them. The floor had giant tiles, there were pillars sprouted on the corners, and statues of popular Gem beings. The Ancient Sky Arena looked demolished, like it was a piece of a bigger arena. Nevertheless, the arena still had an edge that lead to stairs and seats. There were symbols on each pillar, stemming from some sort of alien language._

 _Lapis glanced at the stairs, which reached to the top, where there was an opening to the other side of the arena, where she knew a Warp Pad was stationed. But, above the opening, was a logo of the Diamond Authority. Four Diamonds, four different colors, four different rulers. One shattered, one exiled, two in operation. In total, three were still alive._

 _Somewhere in the universe._

 _"Woah, so coool!" Connie grinned, walking around the arena. She tried to express as much joy as possible. This was her first time here, and this was just after the first time she'd flown with Lapis. And just after the meeting she had with Lapis and only being her disciple for ten minutes. "I feel lightheaded."_

 _Lapis crossed her arms._

 _"So, what do you want to learn?"_

 _"Uh, fighting." Connie thought she should lessen the workload. "Or anything defensive... and offensive. So, uh, basically fighting."_

 _"What kind of fighting?" Lapis instantly corrected herself. "No, wait, that's a bad question. I think I've got a skillset for you! With your small and nimble body, you could easily dodge oncoming attacks, so I should train you to dodge! And, maybe some basic fighting manuevers. Then, we get to sword training! Because if you're going on the offense, I think swords are your best option."_

 _"Okay—" Connie went quiet when she saw Lapis snap her fingers and a frozen sword popped into existence. The Gem tossed it at her. "Woah!" The girl caught the ice sword in her arms, feeling peculiar that it wasn't freezing. Her eyes glimmered with fascination. "_ Magic _..."_

* * *

Her eyes brimmed with stars.

"Heck yeah!"

* * *

The Gem arena, the present...

"Alright, here we are. Didn't take too long this time." Lapis commented on her own flying abilities, with the ego she had.

Connie had changed into her training clothes, which consisted of a gray, upturned collar, sleeveless vest, a pair of baggy green pants, and brown boots. She waved the wand around like it was a sword, gripping it with two hands and clashing blades with an invisible figure.

"Connie," Lapis turned to her. "We're gonna make fire erupt from that stick."

The eleven year-old girl looked up at her. "Cool."

"So, the wand requires determination, which I _assume_ you have." she playfully stated.

"The power of this holy wand fills me with..." Connie brought her arms up, "...DETERMINATION!"

"Yeah, yeah, determination, comic sans the font is best font, I'm the undying and you're the cool skeleton spaghetti, I know, I remember." Lapis reminded. "The Gem Wand gets its power from magical beings. There's a natural aura of wavelengths that you need to tap into to use that infinite pool of energy. This magical aura is everywhere, within living things and even inanimate objects. Once you put your head into the game, there's no stopping what you can do. And I assume you understand what I just said, because you've read fictional books."

Connie pointed the tip of the wand at a direction. Smoke started to simmer from the star, but that was it.

"This Gem Wand is a _powerful_ weapon from the Gem wars. I would know. I saw it in action and scavenged it. Now the Crystal Gems are gonna finally know where it's been hiding." Lapis informed.

"You hid this from them?" Connie asked.

"Not really. They never found it. And since three weeks ago, I did." she stated, folding her arms. "Safe to say that the weapon's a little rusty. That smoke is probably the only thing that will ever come out of it, now that I think about it."

"But you said it gathers power from everything." Connie said, raising a brow.

"Yeah, it gathers power. Not energy. If we could charge this, then..." Lapis shrugged, not even bothering to finish her sentence.

In a few moments, the Gem Wand suddenly brimmed with energy, glowing like a heartbeat. Lapis' eyes widened, surprised that it was at full power.

"What..."

"I used the leftover juice to focus on electricity. Then I think the Gem Wand used that energy to create electric power, and absorbed that bigger power and reignited itself into a continuous flow of magic." Connie informed, waving the wand as it trailed strong light behind it.

"You are a _genius_." Lapis remarked, laughing lightly. "I don't know how that worked because by logical properties, that shouldn't have worked."

"So, whoever holds this had the utmost power in the Gem war? Wouldn't this be the weapon that Gems would try to get most? Why didn't the Crystal Gems try to find this?" she asked.

"Well, the Gem who held it made it so that any other Gem would have their hands melted from touching it. Gems tried it and had their hands permanently damaged. Thus, nobody wanted it afterwards." the water Gem explained, "But you're not a Gem, so I used that exception. And I only got a hold of it through water, but even then I couldn't use it. And Steven... uh..."

"He's cursed."

"Yeah."

"So... I could do anything with this wand?" Connie inquired of her.

"It has its limits." Lapis answered. "And you'd need to learn more stuff more the advanced controls. But you're already an expert at generating lightning, so I don't think you'll need anything else. Lightning is one of the most powerful attacks. Not gonna teach you water manipulation 'cause that's my gimmick."

"You mean, you don't know?" Connie retorted with a smirk.

"He-e-ey, I'm the teacher around these parts. You're the one who's gonna get _schooled_ here, not me." the Gem bantered.

* * *

 **A/N: I introduce to you... _magic_.**

 **You know how Rose Quartz is cursed never to use physical magic?**

 **Uh, yeah. It's why Steven can't use the wand.**

 **Poor guy.**

 **Anyway, I wanna ask: What're you expecting to see from this story? 'Cause I was just sitting around, watching _The Raid_ fight scenes, and I was wondering what do people look most forward to in the story? It's probably the action, because this story focuses on that. Or maybe the plot because you came here for the AU. Or the character interpretations or relationships! I dunno, I wanna hear it from you!**

* * *

 **Breaking News: It's Connie's birthday, and her present is a magic Gem wand. It really is Birthday Magic!**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Rogue Time"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **ODSLV LV WUDSSHG."**


	29. Chapter 27: Rogue Time

**Chapter 27: _Rogue Time_**

* * *

It was August.

Pearl was surveying the land of Kronos Quad.

It had been a year (eleven months if you want to be precise) since the Ambergeddon incident, and since then, people have been working hard to rid of the debris and deserted buildings. The place was a literal graveyard, millions of people had died here.

 _Then again, everything died everywhere. What's the difference with this one?_ She thought.

They could still salvage this place. And in honor of the deaths of millions, the land could be renamed to something similar to Kronos Quad.

The Revolution had turned into a not-so secret society nowadays, with experts already disclosing information about the organization. Pearl could work more freely now, no need to worry about secrecy and the restrictions. The Revolution was now part of the public, an uproar of advanced world military. She knew the day would someday come, but not this soon.

Gems were known worldwide now. People have been speculating and hunting them down for Kronos Quad. Killing, murdering, literally illegal stuff. But the humans found a loophole that Gems were not humans, so they did not have civil rights. And they exploited that reason to hunt Gems down. Pearl knew she had to intervene in this human conflict with the Gems. But, she didn't know with what approach.

Rose would know. She always knew the right path.

All Pearl could think about was the Gem Registry she was working on. It could help manage which Gems are authorized in the public and publicly give them civil rights, which were only six Gems because that's the amount of good Gems in the world. Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Steven, and... _Lapis_. The Rogue Nation couldn't be trusted enough for the registry, as they were the ones responsible for Kronos Quad and Dexterity Castle.

Well, Amber was the one responsible, and she's already caught. Her punishment was not as severe as Pearl would like it to be, feeling as if justice wasn't served.

Pearl's top priority was to experiment with Amber's Gemstone to find a way to take down Gems in an easier way. A _Gem destabilizer_ , she named the weapon in the works. It would input a code into the Gems that would get them to poof after being hit with it, something she had witnessed firsthand when Amber corrupted her. After that device is perfected, she would capture all of the Rogue Nation herself, whether or not the Crystal Gems like it or not. It wasn't like she's with them anymore. She had her own turf.

It felt weird, to talk about the Crystal Gems, and at the same time, remember that she was no longer a part of them. This feeling of isolation was _new_. She had everything to herself now. However, she wasn't a lone wolf as she was working with the Revolution.

"What do I do now?" Pearl asked.

She had been a Gem servant to White Diamond, taught in the ways by Moonstone, followed Rose Quartz through the galaxy, and ended up working for an organization on a little blue planet called Earth. Even with her experience and skill, she still couldn't figure out how to save the world with its human unpredictability. Humanity seemed lost in this world, and the Revolution, as its name implies, is tasked with helping it grow again.

But Pearl worked in the class of soldiers, extraterrestrials (the only one), diplomacy and scientists. She was widely believed to be the best knight on Earth, but she was not as great as they say she was. She was not the strongest Gem, she was not the best alien, nor was she good in keeping relationships between people, and her level of intellect wasn't as high as Peridot's. She was all-around, _balanced_ , as Greg said.

And "balanced" was not what Pearl wanted.

She wanted to be more. To prove to herself and everyone that she wasn't just a simple Pearl.

She was _the_ Pearl. The one and only.

"Uh, commander Pearl?" a meekly voice called to her.

Pearl glanced at the Revolution soldier, who had a badge that states he was a leader of the squad. She remembered who this man was. His name was Mikey, and he was the one to bring back the Crystal Gems and Team Gem Squad after their encounter with Amber on Kronos Quad, the very soil they were standing on.

"I don't remember being promoted to a commander." Pearl replied cheekily. She even thought it was funny being considered that. She didn't feel like she deserved that title.

"Well, I didn't know what to call you." Mikey said.

"Just, _Pearl_."

"Yes, Pearl." Mikey saluted, "Commander Samson wanted you to report back to base."

"Alright. I'll do that." Pearl was about to leave, until she stayed to find something out. "I want to ask something."

He gulped nervously. "...what is it?"

"What do you think of me?" she asked.

"Well..." the squad leader tried to find the right words, because he didn't want to get into trouble. He also didn't want to say anything unoriginal, because he thought that wouldn't be fun. "...you're my first candidate if Commander Samson ever resigns."

Pearl chuckled, thinking that the mere idea of her being a leader was amusing.

"You think I can be a leader to a whole organization?"

"Well, I'm a leader to a squad, and you're so much better than me, _so_..." Mikey ended it with a shrug.

Pearl's eyes narrowed at the idea, taking it seriously this time.

* * *

Wild Card.

That was his codename.

A soldier that had overcome all odds in his life. That wasn't really what the words "wild card" defined. It meant that he had unpredictable and uncertain outcomes. He could either fail or win completely.

But to the Revolution, his name only meant victory. Their final card in the deck. The last ditch-effort. The saving grace. The ace in the hole.

For some reason, they chose him as their hero, and not Pearl. She could do everything he could, and even better. Maybe, they wanted someone more human. But, he had wiped out most of his humanity long ago. He was close to Pearl's level of humanity, which was... not that high.

Today, he was training with three of the top martial artists in the world. He knew their moves, watched them fight, and in this very sparring match with them, he was prepared to face all of their different styles of combat. Very unique to their own, not one of them had similar techniques. Even with the difference, he accounted everything.

He beat all of them without breaking a sweat.

Of course, he had to find a way to use all of his advantages. Using his own momentum and the opponent's momentum to bring out the most of his neutralizing attacks. Probably sprained someone's ankle, dislocated another's shoulder and bruised that one guy's eye... but they were trying to do the same thing.

That one fighter tried to punch him between the eyes, and that really dumb attack left him open to more counters and as a result, got himself flipped in the air for a few feet and landing sharply on his back.

As he left the training room, he encountered Pearl waiting for him, who had her arms crossed.

"Hm?" was his greeting.

"I saw you out there. Getting better." Pearl remarked, kicking herself off the wall. She stepped towards him. "You defeated three of our best hand-to-hand fighters. Impressive. You didn't look like you were even being serious."

"It was practice." he responded

"They went _all_ out." she mentioned confidently.

Greg stopped himself for a second, thinking.

"What's with the flattery?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered, smiling a bit. "Just checking up on an old friend."

His eyelids drooped, not convinced with the reason. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"You're happy... to see _me_?" he asked cautiously.

"No, of course not. I'm happy to see that Rose isn't with you." she answered nonchalantly. That innocent smile she had seemed creepy now.

Greg's eyes widened a bit. "I didn't expect... that. Are you _okay_?"

She ignored him, turning around and walking away. "Meeting with Commander Samson in five."

She left him in the hallway.

Greg returned to his thoughts.

"You didn't answer." he muttered in contempt, frowning.

* * *

It was the same meeting room they used eleven months ago, when Pearl discussed with the smartest Gem from Homeworld, Peridot; the strongest Gem that was trapped in a mirror for centuries, Lapis; and the normal Commander Samson about the safekeeping of Amber's separated Gemstone.

Now, this meeting room was used by Pearl, Wild Card and Commander Samson. Difference this time was Greg replacing Peridot and Lapis.

"I've called the two of you in for a very important reason." Jacob announced.

"Important enough that he ordered me to fetch you when I came here alone." Pearl added.

Wild Card started to focus more on the talk, which was seeming to head for something _big_ , something serious. Something that would threaten the world, could be impossibly dangerous to stop, and only he and Pearl _together_ will be able to solve this.

"There is evidence of a human hunter we were tracking down." Jacob informed, "And this _human hunter_ is a Gem."

 _That's it?_ Wild Card heaved a sigh, which he didn't know if it was either from relief or disappointment. "So, there's only one human hunter?"

"Yes. Shockingly, just the one. Killed tens of people, who were mostly viewed from others as murderers, rapists and drug sellers." Jacob said.

"So, this evil human hunter... she kills bad people for sport." Greg leaned on his arm on the table. "What are we supposed to do? That's practically what _we_ do. But she does it for free." He contemplated at what he just said. "And, I also work for free but that's not the point."

"It's been reported that this singular Gem has been hunting humans for the past year. And yes, she kills bad people. However, she also kills good people. People who were probably mistakened for committing crimes. She's also made a reputation for all Gems on the public society. All of these malicious intents and killing led people to believe Gems are all evil murdering psychopaths. She's like a vigilante; nobody knows of her or what she wants. The government is telling me she could be a danger to humanity. Then, when the news hit of the human hunter today, people are more willing to hunt Gems down because of her."

Pearl concentrated and scowled at the table.

"What does she look like?" Pearl asked inquisitively.

"She took form of a female, scheme of colors are based on _cyan_ , and she wields a dagger. We've only gotten a few pictures over the month, and they're mostly blurs. We were able to enhance the picture and discovered what she looked like." Jacob Samson clicked a button on a small black device he was holding.

A crisp clear image of Kyanite was shown on the screen. Pearl recognized the hunter.

"Looks like you know her." he said, noting her expression.

"Her name is _Kyanite_." the white knight informed, frowning in disappointment. "We used to take care of her back then."

"Take care of her? Like, _Amethyst_?" Wild Card asked, reminiscing the old times for a bit before focusing on the topic.

"Yes. Except, Kyanite was made during the war, and not after. She's... _not_ stable. And her guardians are dead to what I remember." Pearl thought. _But, Onyx isn't dead though... Obsidian was. Technically, they're_ both _dead... like in a sense of how_ Greg _is dead. But not really. Wherever Kyanite is, she's started a human hunting spree for a reason. And now, she's a threat to the Revolution; she's a threat_ I _would have to take out. This is going to be tricky..._

"I see you're focusing on how to beat her." Greg said, noting her interested expression and that fire in her eyes. Pearl snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at him. "What, does she have some _other_ set of abilities that we don't know of?"

"Yes... Teleportation." she stated, causing Greg and Jacob to tense.

"Yikes." Commander Samson breathed in with his teeth shut, making a hissing sound. "She could escape... at any given moment?"

"Back in the day, she couldn't control it and worked hard to improve on that ability." Pearl rubbed the sides of her head. "I never knew what she was capable of... she never displayed any efficiency either. She was always taken care of by these _other_ Gems."

"But you said you took care of her." Jacob Samson replied.

"Yes. I was referring to the Crystal Gems." There was a strain her voice. "We were larger in numbers millennia ago. We had a pair of powerful Gems, named Onyx and Obsidian. Telepathy and telekinesis were their respective abilities. And they took care of Kyanite, who had teleportation."

"A family of _Tele_." Wild Card joked.

"Telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation." Jacob noted. "Good thing we're only dealing with one of them."

"Yeah... the _unexperienced_ one." Pearl stated.

She shuddered at the thought of facing one of the older ones. Onyx and Obsidian were the powerhouses of the Crystal Gems and were even more powerful as Jet. Garnet didn't even compare to Jet's godlike power. It was a good thing they were on their side, until... Obsidian died.

"Are we going to have to kill Kyanite?" the white knight demanded.

"No, the least you can do is capture her. Unless, either of you vote to kill her. Because with power like that, she could be a useful ally... or a _dangerous_ enemy." Jacob said.

Greg and Pearl glanced at each other.

"Anyway, this is all I've called you in here for. I can't stay for long because I'm the commander of a whole not-so secret society. I'm a busy man." he stated.

* * *

They all called the meeting off, and the two agents walked down the hallways with each other. The two had nothing to do, as they weren't assigned any task lately. All they were asked for by Jacob was to know who this Gem was and that's it, hunting down Kyanite would take some time on the database before they really could go out on patrol.

So, they were just casually heading around the complicated structure of the Revolution base. As they were walking, Pearl had something on her mind to say to Wild Card.

"Have you ever planned on... visiting Steven? Telling him that you're alive?" Pearl asked worriedly, and suddenly breaking the silence. "The boy could use a father in these peaceful times."

"I'm afraid of doing that." Greg admitted, seemingly not surprised with the unexpected question.

"Because you don't know how to talk to him?" Pearl guessed, glancing at him.

"Because I don't want him to see me like this... to see his father as a _murderer_." he corrected, "He already thinks I'm dead. If I reveal myself to him, he probably won't take it well. He saw my grave, he wouldn't even believe me with my bad reputation. I guess... I'll just have to continue doing what he thinks of me."

Pearl sighed depressingly, seeing how much of a broken man he had become. Not wanting to see his son, his _legacy_ , and the only family he had left? That had to be a hard choice for him. She couldn't believe this was the same goofball that she fought over Rose with... now here she was, consoling him.

"Anyway..." Greg shifted the topic to something he wanted to discuss. It was something heavy to deal with and a burden he had to carry around. He just wanted to talk about it. "I've been thinking about those emergency plans against Lapis Lazuli."

"What about it?" the Gem asked.

"Are you sure that _you_ can't defeat her yourself?" he responded unsurely. "Why am _I_ the only definitive candidate?"

Pearl closed her eyes. "Are you saying you don't want your revenge?"

"I'm saying that you're much more better at this job than me. You're a Gem; you're faster, stronger and more durable than me. Yet, you swallowed your pride to let me get to her instead. Why?" he asked.

"She hates all Gems. She may not look like it, but she does." Pearl informed, sighing. "And her rage alone is an overpowering asset she uses to defeat her opponents. She calls upon her anger to manipulate entire oceans and her water weapons. She won't crank up the difficulty to eleven with humans. She has no conflict with you. She'll underestimate you even. By then, you'll already take your shot."

"I guess so..." He looked down, heart pounding nervously about a plan that wasn't going to be engaged soon. It seemed like Lapis wasn't going to need any restraining in the near future, so the plan wasn't going to be in use for some time. He continued, "Instead of sending a Gem to fight the most powerful being on the planet, you send a man. Sounds like an underdog story."

"Little to no chance of winning? I thought you'd like it." Pearl joked.

"Still, it's _Lapis Lazuli_." Greg slowly said, to make sure she grasped the situation. "The strongest Gem on Earth..."

"And you're Greg Universe." Pearl rebutted. "The strongest human on Earth."

"Not the strongest, but yeah, let's go with that."

 _"SECURITY BREACHED!"_ the speakers blared, echoing through the halls. Red light flickered throughout the hallway. _"INTRUDER ALERT! REQUESTING AGENT PEARL AND WILD CARD! ALL OTHER ELITE AGENTS ALSO REQUESTED! INTRUDER ALERT!"_

* * *

Pearl and Wild Card rushed to see what was the commotion about.

It was a _big_ commotion.

The hangar that housed jets and the sorts were now housing around _sixty_ Gems. The Rogue Nation had appeared, peacefully. So far, they had not attempted a violent approach or shown any sign of aggression. They had really come for peace.

Pearl surveyed the sea of Gems, different colors distracting her vision. She pulled out a spear, just as Wild Card stood protectively behind her with a random heavy rifle raised.

"We are not here to hurt you." the leader of this small part of the Rogue Nation said, stepping forth and kneeling on the ground. It was Hematite, the rocky Gem with the holographic shoulder plate and a liking for lava and the ground. "We are simply here to negotiate a conciliation. We do not intend to harm anyone."

" _You_... You're one of the three Gems that attacked us in the temple." Pearl insisted.

"I am Hematite. And I truly apologize for the mess I have created" he admitted shamefully. "I claim full responsibility for the Rogue Nation."

Pearl lowered her spear. "A noble action. Taking the blame yourself for the whole country. But you know if you stay here any longer, we're going to capture you and jail all of you in Gem-inhibited cells."

"It doesn't have to come to that." another Gem said, taking a step beside Hematite. This Gem was a white old man, who had spiky upturned hair, and a bushy _mustache_ and _beard_ for some reason. He was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, khaki pants and slip-on shoes. He leaned forward with his back arched like a grandpa.

Pearl's eyes brightened with fascination. "T-Teacher? _Moonstone_?"

The ancient Gem smirked, "Ah, Pearl of Rose Quartz. I remember you. You were the most loyal Gem I have ever taught."

Pearl just stood there agape, her fingers opening up and letting her spear fall to the floor with a clang. She remembered that soothing old geezer's voice, and the same teacher she had that was fond of looking wise. For some inane reason, he chose to look like an old senile man.

Pearl cried and rushed towards Moonstone like a kid. This world influenced her too much. "Teacher! It's... It's been _so_ long! I thought you were _dead_!" she cried, noticing how tall she was compared to him when she tried to hug him.

Moonstone waved it away, even chuckling like an old veteran. "No worries. I'm here. Had to go through some trials with White Diamond back on Homeworld five millenia ago. I was supposed to keep Yellow Diamond in check, but I guess even an expert like me wasn't enough for raw power like the Diamonds. Surely enough, I'm back. Here on Earth. Feels strange to suddenly time travel into the future."

Greg's muscles relaxed as the conflict in the hangar seemed to be peacefully resolved.

"It reminds me of that time Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond battled in space and resulted in some gravitational anomaly that sped them a couple years into the future." Moonstone said, "Those were the most incredibly confusing times in the wars." He blinked, nodding his head. "Oh, right. Pearl, we don't want to do any harm to humanity. We want to help, rebuild or find a way of redemption for what we had caused. Do you think you can find a way to allow this and let these Gems redeem themselves?"

" _Absolutely_!" she gushed. Greg's head perked up at hearing this.

Moonstone was confused. "Don't you need to... go to great lengths just to accept us as this organization's allies?"

"Don't worry! I'm a leading agent in this organization and work in the highest levels of authority!" Pearl exclaimed proudly. "I'm sure I could do something."

"This Pearl just went from wanting to kill us to accepting us in a blink of an eye." a shiny golden Gem remarked, her arms crossed and a naive expression present on her face. She had hair going in all directions except for the middle spot of her scalp. She had a baggy red jumpsuit, and orange boots. She was as tall as Pearl.

"Quiet, Pyrite." a glassy white Gem said. She was standing beside the golden Pyrite, with a serious expression on her face, and a mean scowl that matched her spiky elevated hair. Her attire was mostly gray and black shades of Roman armor that had a chestplate, gauntlets, and boots. There was a layer of gray under her armor that expanded like spandex that covered everything except her head. She wasn't as tall as Pyrite or Pearl, only being a foot shorter than them.

A green Gem standing beside them didn't say anything, but her presence on the front row meant she, like these two Gems, have something significant in their roles. This green Gem had a cloth that covered her mouth so she didn't have to show her acid spit, and her white hair ran down to her back. Her black attire had bits of green here and there, all symmetrical and perfect. From her stance, Pearl could tell she resembled that of a ninja without the head cover.

"Those two are Pyrite and Howlite. The silent one is Jade. They are certainly capable." Moonstone told Pearl, "The silver and gold duo also cause quite the trouble with the excessive pride they have."

Pearl nodded to her former teacher's words. "I could get permission to authorize your stay here." she informed.

Hematite rose from kneeling on the ground for the past couple of minutes. "We have sixty-two Gems, are you sure you have enough room to give everyone a cell?"

"You're _really_ serious about jailing yourself..." Pearl remarked. "But yes. We have a hangar big enough to have all of you here, of course the Revolution would have enough apartments for all of you. They have them for agents who don't have a residence, just like me. And soon, just like you."

Greg approached Pearl's side. "Are you sure about this? Sixty-two Gems? How can we trust this many?"

"It's my teacher we're talking about." the white knight whispered back. "He doesn't lie."

* * *

The Crystal Temple...

"Are you sure this is okay?"

"Yep."

"Where did you even find her?"

"Remember that time we found Lion a few weeks back?"

"That was two months ago."

"Yeah! While we were dimension-hopping, I saw something slip past us."

"And it was... her. _Kyanite_." Connie guessed, "The same Gem that tried to protect us from Peridot that one time in winter."

"Yup." he nodded confidently, "I decided to find her using Lion again, and this time, instead of her doing her thing... like, teleporting to someplace... she was in her Gem form."

"She got poofed?" she asked, brows knitting in concern.

"That's a fact, but, I'm worried about _what_ poofed her." Steven said, "Gems poof when they're badly wounded and sent into their Gems to regenerate. I think she teleported into the ripples of dimensions just before she poofed as a last effort to save herself."

"The moment she comes back, she'll think she's in that space between dimensions." Connie placed her hand over the Gem wand on her belt, making sure she had something with her if the situation needed it. Also, they had no clue what to call the dimension Lion's Roar brought them to, and it was used very little, so naming it wasn't a priority. "What's she gonna do in a reflex if she sees she isn't there?"

Steven eyed cautiously at Connie's hand on her lightning wand, before focusing on the cyan Gem on the pillow.

"She's not going to do anything _that_ drastic, Connie." he reassured, hoping he could convince himself too. "If anything happens, we'll just... talk it out."

"If she doesn't talk?"

"She'll have to..." he urged.

"What if she teleports away?"

"If she could do that all the time, why doesn't she just stay in that dimension _all_ the time instead of wander off on Earth?"

Connie thought about it.

"It's because she can't." the demigem said confidently. "She's just like me when I first used my powers... sometimes, it just doesn't work."

"How are you so sure about that?"

"Just trust me, Connie." he said, smiling. She relaxed upon him saying that, and let go of the wand.

Just then, the Gem shimmered and the physical body of Kyanite spawned out of it, landing on the cushion. She had the same fice-pointed star cloak as she did back then, and her parted glossy blue hair was still intact. Her skin looked whiter, and whatever cyan hue she had was replaced with the color of the sky. All in all, she was the same, save for a few color changes.

Kyanite's teal eyes dilated as she focused on her surroundings, and her first instinct was to run. However, she stopped herself in time when she recognized the two humans she "saved" long ago. She did not find Peridot around.

"It's okay." Steven reassured, his voice strong. Beside him, Connie was watching her curiously. "You're alright. You've just regenerated from your Gem. We found you in another dimension."

Kyanite stared back at them, mute. Her breathing elevated.

"RRRrOssse Quu-Artz." she slurred, pointing out Steven's Gem powers. She was ashamed of her broken voice and wanted to keep quiet. She needed to fix herself.

"Oh, she's my mom." he answered sheepishly.

Kyanite contemplated at this information. She felt so out of place. She didn't want to be here, confronted by two human children. But she was. She just wanted to vanish.

She kept herself mute.

Connie looked over at Steven expectantly. There wasn't anything they could do anymore, not with a shy Gem. And this was all very awkward, with none of them knowing what to do. They were all huddled around, doing exactly nothing for the moment.

Steven pondered a bit. "What were you doing in that dimension?

Kyanite opened her mouth, before shutting it close.

Connie and Steven looked at each other, wondering if that actually meant anything.

It donned on Kyanite that the boy interrogating her was a Gem. A _human_ Gem.

"Whheeere iis Oon-yxx? Wherre is my ffamily?" Kyanite demanded, quickly standing up. She narrowed her eyes at the two, baring her fangs. They're not in control of the situation, _she_ is! That's what Onyx told her to do, always be in control.

Steven and Connie stepped back, with the latter getting a grip on her weapon. Steven put an arm before her, stoppin her from doing any reckless action. He wanted to resolve this with peace, not violence.

"TtelllL mEe!" her broken voice cried, lifting Steven up by the collar.

Connie reacted quickly, pulling out her wand and casting out lightning. KRA-KOOMM! The bolt struck Kyanite in the chest, and flung her into a wall. Cracks spread through the Crystal cavern, the ceiling rumbled, sharp rocks shaking off and fallling to the floor. Kyanite growled at the burning sensation at her Gem, which was located on her chest, where Connie also struck her.

In a blink of an eye, Kyanite roared like an animal, and charged at Connie. Her eyes shrunk from insanity, a rise of angry energy pouring throughout her physical form. She swiped at her, and the human dodged, while throwing lightning at her again.

The Gem snarled, her bare feet crushing the ground below her as she rocketed off the ground to avoid the attack. Kyanite held onto the ceiling, her fingers shapeshifting into claws and piercing the stalactite.

"CONNIE!" Steven shouted, "Stop that!"

Connie kept the Wand in her grip, staring up at Kyanite. She had been a little trigger-happy with all the power she had inhabited, like her new abilities and the Gem Wand. She just felt like needing a reason to show this off to Steven, but it didn't feel satisfying when Steven was telling her to stop.

"HHuuu-manns are _badd_." Kyanite said, gritting her teeth. "ON-yyx tolld me. Can't trrrusst themm. Onn-lyy Gemmmss."

Steven stared up at the grayish-blue Gem, who started crawling around the ceiling to get the better of them. He stood close to Connie, and activated his shield.

"I... wwil ex-terrrminate alll hu-mmans. Ffor Onn-yx annd Obbsidiaan." Kyanite slurred.

"Onyx and Obsidian are Crystal Gems!" the demigem exclaimed, "The Crystal Gems protect the Earth!"

"Nnnott huu-manss." Her lips curled into a sadistic smirk. It would've been a lovely smile if not for her crazy eyes.

Steven felt sweat roll down his face, this was all going _so_ wrong. The Gem he thought he would be friends with was going to enjoy killing them. She looked like she could go on even if they combined their attacks. She was scary crazy.

"Steven?" Connie called, her voice shaky. She was confident before, but all of that drained away when Kyanite seemed to be skilled enough to take both of them down. "What's the plan?"

"I-I don't know!" he nervously replied.

The temperature dropped around them. They could feel their stomachs plummet as Kyanite pulled out her weapon, a dagger, from under her five-pointed star cape, since one of the trails covered her Gem.

Kyanite leaped at them in a fury.

Steven raised his shield, covering both him and Connie. WHAM! Kyanite landed on the shield, flailing her dagger wildly in the air.

SCHTINK! Chunks of ice sprouted from the ground, sharp tips glaring up at Kyanite. Said Gem kicked herself off the shield and slid on the cavern grounds, confused at the cooling temperature and the rising ice shards.

"Are you doing this?" Steven whispered.

Connie shook her head.

Sapphire stepped into the scene, shouting "KYANITE!" sharply.

"Ssaphirre." Kyanite slurred, turning her head to face her. There was some recognition on her face, and her eyes started to become less crazy. "Ggarnett?"

"Garnet's gone. I'm just Sapphire." the icy Gem stated. Steven and Connie backed away and watched it play out itself, sighing in relief that Sapphire had come to their rescue.

"Rrrubyy?" she asked, "She'ss deead?"

"No. We're separated." she answered, inwardly hurting at the voice of Kyanite.

"Onnnyx? Oobsidiannn?"

Sapphire waited for a moment, letting the feeling sink. She counted silently, until she thought it would be the best time to say it.

"They're gone."

Kyanite shook her head, saliva dripping from her mouth. "No... NO!"

Sapphire stepped towards Kyanite, who was slightly taller than her, but she was hunched over like a beast so Sapphire seemed taller.

"T-TTHEY C-CAN'T BBEE!" Kyanite shouted, her spirits breaking. Tears were coming down her face, and her throat was holding back sobs. "Theey're sttrong! Theyy can't diee!"

Sapphire placed her hands on her shoulders, rubbing them comfortingly. Kyanite broke down in front of her, the only thing she could hold on to for sanity was dead. What else did she have in life? She'd been killing humans for the past year. And to her, it was to uphold Onyx's words and the thrill just gave her a certain rush. She had dealt with Amber using her as a torture slave, corrupting and uncorrupting into a dog, that she didn't know what to feel anymore.

Everything's jumbled up for her.

Kyanite held on to Sapphire for support, the only Crystal Gem she could trust for obvious reasons. Because she already knew. Sapphire was looked into futures, everyone relied on her for great success.

"Nno. Thhhey're stiill aalivve. I caann feell iit." Kyanite said, her teeth gritting in psychopathic bloodlust. Her shaking legs stood strong, and she set herself away from Sapphire. "Innn myy bboones. Theeyy'rre sttill hherrre."

In a few moments, Kyanite went from warrior to cripple, as she toppled over the ground. Still, she was determined. The Gem clenched her fist as blood started coughing out of her mouth from her concentration. She started phasing in and out of existence, trying hard to use her energy to teleport away from here.

"Kyanite. _Stop_." Sapphire ordered, crouching over her. "You're not focusing."

The insane Gem thrashed her fists at her, but they didn't connect since she was on the ground, overworking herself. Kyanite couldn't get a clear mind, since all she could think of was revenge. Pain. Agony. Death. Humans. Torture. Amber. Corruption. Kill. Find. Teleport. All her thoughts swirling into one big concoction of a headache.

Kyanite took her dagger, and thrusted it into herself, setting all her attention into _pain_. She grunted and wheezed in pain, finally being able to throw out all her other thoughts.

Sapphire was unfazed by the action, but the kids were. They looked away.

"Kyanite." the icy Gem clasped her hand around the other's wrist. "Stop. You're going to kill yourself."

Kyanite shut her eyes, unable to argue with that. She groaned, her stomach burning with the wound she inflicted on herself. White blood puddled around her. All that useful energy left her body, but she needed to find Onyx and Obsidian. They weren't dead yet! She had to find them!

"They're gone." Sapphire said coldly, trying to drive the idea into the younger Gem's head. It was a hard pill to swallow, and this Gem was stubborn back in the past, using Onyx and Obsidian as her scapegoat. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

Kyanite stopped struggling, but kept breathing hard.

 _They're dead._ Kyanite thought. _I'm useless._

The blue Gem's grip on the dagger loosened.

 _I'm so sorry..._

 _Mommy. Daddy._

Kyanite's form shimmered, and she went back into her Gemstone to regenerate.

Sapphire sighed, pulling herself up to stand. She looked down at her blood-stained outfit and then over at the horrified children.

"You two. We are going to have a _talk_."

* * *

 **A/N: This was a hard pickle to cut. Okay, that phrase was weird, I don't know what came over me typing that. Keeping it anyway.**

 **And ughhhhh, I've been seeing weird parallels between Gems and gods lately. Because I've been reading _Kane Chronicles: Serpent's Shadow_ (haven't read the first two, just skipped to the last one because it was sitting around in the class library.) and I'm a fan of _Percy Jackson _ and _Heroes of Olympus_. (Basically _Rick Riordan _ stuff) It's now hard to not see the similarities in abilities and what they represent. I can see so much _potential_...**

 **Makes me wanna... write another fanfic AU with Gems acting as gods for the past five thousand years, and the adventures of their offspring demigems. I don't know why, but I've already titled it _Demigem Legends: The Kill Code_. I even have this joke plot about Steven and some other OC demigems going on a journey across Kindergartens (birthplace of gods), Homeworld (hell) and Earth to find this "Kill Code" to fight off the Cluster that's going to wake.**

 **If anyone is interested with this idea, all you can do is just beg me to write the first chapter, thank you very much. (It would take time off Steven Lazuli.) If you wanna write it yourself, go ahead, it's fanfiction, nothing's stopping you. There's probably already a fic about that lurking around and I just haven't been looking for it correctly.**

 **ANYWAYS, back to this chapter, I was stressing out because I wanted to get this in a day early and I was holding off writing some parts because PROCRASTINATION! Also, because I have a habit of not focusing on the thing I'm supposed to focus. Like, the other chapters? Last chapter had a title about magic, and magic lasted about fifteen percent of the chapter.**

 **Okay, next chapter will be the start of a war with the Crystal Gems, Team Gem Squad and Kyanite... AGAINST the Bloodstone Rogue Nation!**

 **Meaning, not Hematite, Moonstone, Jade, Howlite and Pyrite. They're Revolution now, no longer Rogue Nation. And the Revolution have their own problems.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: This chapter is filled with Rogue Nation. And it's probably the first time in months since there was any major event with the Rogue Nation. So, _Rogue Time_!**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "An Intricate G.A.M.E"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **KHPDWLWH DQG WKH KRPHZRUOG URJXH QDWLRQ DUH ORBDO WR SHDUO."**


	30. Chapter 28: An Intricate Game

**Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 28: _An Intricate G.A.M.E._**

* * *

It was September, the start of autumn.

The wind got colder, and the leaves on trees started to go brown. It was a good month to start flying kites, before October comes around and people start to act spooky as the time of daylight shortens. There was no full reason as to why people made October scary, as Halloween didn't exist in this universe.

And, also, it was September, the dreaded month Sapphire had predicted of.

A full year should have come since Ambergeddon. And trouble arrived at the most unexpecting times.

* * *

 _Peridot stumbled around Homeworld, dirty and muddy. Scratches were marked all over her limb enhancers. Bruises on her left eye and mouth were swelling. Wounds and gashes bled white blood on her body, most noticeably in her stomach. That one was painful._

 _She covered the deep cut in her waist with the palm of her arm enhancer, trying to apply pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. She spluttered blood as she ran from the light, trying her best to stay in the shadows and blend in with the green walls. But the trail of white blood just made the hunt for her easy._

 _She groaned as she felt a wound on her back burn. The pain was unbearable. She let out a small squirm when she leaned agains the wall. Her shoulder felt dislocated, even though that wasn't truly possible. It was twisted, fully, and brought back to its normal place. Except, it was hanging loosely and on the verge of tearing itself apart. Honestly, all her real limbs were broken, or at least maimed in some way._

 _Peridot tasted cold iron in her mouth. It burned her insides and her lips, since it was also her energy. She spit the mouthful of blood onto the ground. A trail came from her cut and chapped lips. She continued on, tired eyes unceremoniously leaking tears. She couldn't stop it. It just happened._

 _She didn't want this. She wanted to go back. Back home. On Earth._

 _The wound in her waist deepened and widened, a surge of electric-like pain went up her spine. It struck her skull like an accelerating train, giving her a migraine. She could hear the throbbing in her head. It was_ agonizing _._

 _She couldn't poof just yet. They were nearing. If she gave up now, they would certainly just put her in a torture cell or shatter her or... harvest her. She was picking the first option, because it was more likely for them to torture her for information and as punishment for subtly betraying Homeworld._

 _She brought up her screen, which was cracked clean in half. But it still worked. Thing was, it malfunctioned and exploded right into her eyes._

 _Smoke billowed from her face and she blew it away. Her puffy red eyes clung to the familiar markings on the walls. This was the way back to either the hangar of spaceships or the Warp Pad back to Earth. She knew if the Warp Pad wasn't broken, Gems would be using it already. But they weren't, so she followed the path to the space docks._

 _Peridot heard shouting and screaming for her name behind her. It was echoing, so they hadn't reached her yet. She turned a corner and stumbled into the wall, grunting while her throat felt clogged with blood and her shattered windpipe. She stifled a scream, but put a hand over her mouth to quiet. Her limbs flared with pain and her whole body felt like dipping into hellfire._

 _The chills made the cuts burn hotter, her sluggy movements felt like it increased the gravity on her. She took this moment to stop and rest, the gaping wound in her waist not healing. Oh, how she wished a certain demigem was around to heal her. Blood kept pouring, but she wasn't "human". It was okay for her to still stay sharp in such a condition. She felt a bit lightheaded, like she was about to float off into space, but she pulled herself together and willed herself to concentrate._

 _She stared into the walls, eyes cold and dead serious. She could hear Homeworld's forces gaining on her. It was Yellow Diamond's orders to capture her specifically. Since, she'd been to Earth, held invaluable information, and was their best Peridot. Too bad she didn't have her best limb enhancers with her. She could've wiped the floor with them easier than just now._

 _She was only able to poof a squad of Gems before being swarmed and beaten up._

 _Peridot had a moment of clarity. Time seemed to slow. Her breaths quieted. The blood dripping from her face and messy hair started to slow down for her. She looked and the drop was inching its way down every second._

 _No. That wasn't right._

 _Her eyes widened._

 _Dark matter particles._

 _She dove to the side and an explosion of black fire spread out where she was resting. She quickly got back up and ran. Pain shot through her thigh and her knees buckled. Looking down, there was another energy arrow pierced into her leg. She fell to the ground, yelping a broken squeak as she struck the metal ground with her face._

 _She was alone. Nobody can save her now._

 _Her body shuddered in dread as she tried to push herself back up. Her back felt like it was ripping itself apart. Maybe it was because of the ax that was swung into the small of her back. She felt a hand pull her face from the ground, hailing her into the air. The Gem let go and Peridot plopped onto the ground on her butt. There was a resounding crunch in her leg, while part of her machines went flying._

 _Peridot huffed, blood spurting out her mouth. "Ugh... k... hh..."_

 _She raised her head to look at the Gem in the eyes. But her neck was harshly pulled by a rope, making her unable to see who was in front of her. She gasped as the rope strangled her, what was left of her robotic fingers were trying to pry the rope open. When she got back to the Gem in front, what she saw was a frontal assault with a yellow sword._

 _Her strangled voice yelled._

 _"Amethyst! HELP!"_

 _And the weapon was thrusted into her chest._

* * *

"PERIDOT!" Amethyst cried, grabbing the air.

She bolted upright on the bed, her skin peppered with sweat. She shut her eyes and flopped on the mattress, panting. The pudgy Gem covered her face in her hands, breathing heavily. She seethed, crying silently to herself.

"It was just a nightmare. Not real." she reassured herself. "You're not a kid anymore, Amethyst. These things come and go. Nothing special to them unless you make a fuss over it."

She tiredly got out of bed and rested herself against the Temple door.

 _It's okay. None of it's real. If it were, it would be truly spectacular that I could see what's going on from lightyears away in my sleep. Now that's something._ She thought, chuckling to herself.

The laughter died down in a matter of seconds.

Amethyst stared at the ground with a serious light to her eyes. The stare a mature person would have, after contemplating the death of her friend. But Peridot wasn't just a friend, she was _more_ to her than that. Plus, it was just a nightmare. It didn't really mean she was dead. Nevertheless, she was still in a grumpy mood.

The Gem ran a hand through her silver hair, pushing back bangs that covered her right eye. She closed her eyes to think.

Who could she kill without consequence?

She opened her eyes at the dangerous idea.

* * *

Later...

SNIP SNIP!

"Steven..." Connie sighed, "Can you please stop spitting in my drink?"

SNIKT!

The demigem's shoulders sagged. "I just wanted you to be fine."

"I _am_ fine. It's just... weird and disgusting and gross." she said, "I mean, drinking other people's saliva. You just don't do that without consent."

SNIP SNIP!

"I'll need to ask you for permission? But what if you become _mute_?" he asked worriedly.

"Steven, I'm not going to die anytime soon. I'm a kid, eleven years-old, not even the age to be drinking magic healing juice everyday." Connie answered, pushing her cup away. "Just stop spitting in my drink. Or, never do that. Ever. If I don't say it, don't do it. It's just..." She shuddered. "...yech."

SNIKT!

Steven gloomed. "Yes..."

"Heh, and I should be the one worrying about your health." Connie chuckled.

SNIP!

"But, you're the one who's more vulnerable." he stated, stirring his drink with the straw. "You're not the demigem with a shield."

"You're right. I'm the trained fighter with the most powerful Gem weapon in the entire world." Connie boasted, smirking not-so subtly. She sipped her drink, feeling replenished as she did. It felt like a little too much. "Ya know, this thing I'm drinking could be worth _millions_."

SNIP...

Lapis suddenly stopped cutting Steven's hair, her ice scissors melting away. "Millions?" she repeated after her student.

"Yes. _Millions_." Connie raised the cup. "It's juice that heals everything. People would pay to get this kind of stuff. And I'm just drinking it like any other drink."

"Okay, Connie, I get it." Steven muttered, "You don't want to drink my priceless saliva. For many reasons. Like modesty and self-respect."

"Steven, you could gain millions of dollars by just drooling." Lapis brought the most important topic back onto the table, while washing the loose strands of hair away from Steven's scalp. She ruffled his hair afterwards. "Just think of all the people that would do anything for your spit."

"Weird." Steven scrunched his nose in disgust.

"There are people out there who would pay millions to have a strand of a celebrity's hair." Lapis stated.

"Strange." he replied.

In their window, a red figure crashed into the fire escape. There were loud metal clangs and curses from a fiery Gem. Ruby's sandy-brown cape covered her head. She flicked the cape away and knocked on the window.

DOK DOK.

Lapis grimaced. "What the hell are you doing out there?"

"Did she fly?" Connie asked. "I remember theorizing how Ruby could fly using air pressure and heat—"

"Shoo! Away from my house, red chicken!" Lapis continued, planting her face against the glass. She stuck her tongue at Ruby, who punched her in the face while shattering the glass window. Lapis stumbled backwards, holding her broken nose. "You're gunna hef'to pay for the expenses."

"Amethyst got herself in trouble." Ruby informed, breaking off the rest of the glass that stuck to the frame. " _Big_ trouble."

Lapis gritted her teeth, checking her hand if there was any bleeding. "How big'k?"

"She tempted the Bloodstone Rogues." Ruby stated, hands trembling a bit. She, like Amethyst, wanted to fight too. It's been too peaceful for her recently. "One hundred and forty sentient Gems."

"Sentient? Good for them," Lapis said, yawning. "They get to feel like the rest of us. My hits are finally gonna register in their minds. And then they'll be running and digging their graves themselves upon seeing me."

"You really think you have a reputation, Sharkface?" Ruby asked, sitting on the windowsill. "A Lapis Lazuli. I'm shaking in my boots."

"You should be." Connie mumbled under her breath, staring at Ruby.

"Connie... Don't do that." Steven whispered, nudging her arm.

Lapis smirked at her student. "I heard that. I taught you well in the art of spite."

"You didn't teach me anything about that." Connie said, a little louder than a mumble.

"See? What did I tell you?" Lapis stretched her arms. She focused back on Ruby. "I grow on people. I'm amazing."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Are ya gonna fight in a war or not?"

* * *

 _Amethyst. Wake up._

Her head jumped and hit the pillar she was strapped to. Amethyst gritted her teeth, eyes clenched in pain. She peeked, light blurring her vision. She moved around, only to have pain inflict on her for exploring.

Amethyst leaned her head back, looking out at the pyramids of Egypt. She looked down and found metal chains linked together and rolled around seventy times around her body. Her arms were stuck in the chains. She moved her legs around, but they were bruised and fractured bad.

"Amethyst. That's what they call you, right?" a deep, scratchy voice asked. Amethyst raised a brow sarcastically at the direction of the sound, only seeing the dark shadows of the entrance of the pyramid.

"What else would "they" call me?" she retorted, cracking her neck side to side. She stretched her muscles, even though she's restricted any movement with the chains she's wrapped in.

"The Kindergarten Kid. The mistake. The abomination." the fiery voice said.

Amethyst smirked, huffing at the burning pain on the edge of her lips.

"I have a lot of potential usernames now. Definitely gonna use the _abomination_ one." she replied jokingly.

"Thank you for attacking first. It's been months, but—"

Amethyst squinted at the ground. "You knew?"

"Yes. For months actually."

"We've stalked for a _year_." she corrected.

"Oh. That's... intriguing. We didn't know that." the voice said, "We were gonna attack soon when you didn't show any sign of interest for interaction lately. But, you came charging and flailing around your transforming stick that we all decided we should go to war. So, you take responsibility for everything that's gonna happen. Not us. Just to be clear."

"Right, 'cause I needed _more_ responsibility. Not like the responsibility I have is big enough, we just gotta add "starting a war" to the list. Yeh, that _completes_ what was missing in my responsibility list." Amethyst ranted.

"Obviously." the voice had a tone that sounded like it shrugged.

"Really? You're gonna be sassy with me?" Amethyst narrowed her eyes.

"You started it first. I couldn't help it."

"Pfft," she nodded in its direction, "what's your name?"

"Bloodstone."

Amethyst's eyes widened. Her blood froze in its tracks.

"You recognize my name." The voice stepped into the light, revealing herself as a black Gem with hints of red hue. The Gemstone was located on her chest. Her eyes were blood red, and her skin was dark crimson. Her midnight hair fell to her shoulders, her warrior robes colored in bold fire. She stood bare feet on the hot sand, not even fazed by the scalding temperature. Had to be because her abilities center around fire, like Ruby's.

"You're Ruby's... enemy." Amethyst guessed. She had forgotten what Ruby told her about Bloodstone.

"Ex-master." she corrected. "She betrayed me when she showed loyalty to Rose tens of thousands of years ago. _That_ Ruby was my greatest pupil, but she's gullible. It was too bad. So much potential could've come from her. But she chose the side that wanted to stop Gem production, the side that wanted to let our legacy of a race to go extinct."

"Oh. Yes. She mentioned that. Maybe. I think." the purple Gem stated confusedly. Then, in her haste of thoughts, she said, "Hey! Ruby's potential didn't go to waste. She's been one of the most fight-centric Gems I've ever seen. She's always determined to go fighting a war for us. And what an _elite_ player she is... a one-Gem army. No, no, _that_ potential didn't go to waste."

Bloodstone backhanded Amethyst upside the face, which was what people call a bitch-slap.

Blood curled from her lips, which she spit out of her mouth. "Pfft! What was _that_? You call that a hit? I've taken worse from your army. I mean, I _think_ my legs are broken, but if not, then you still hit like a... uh... a pillowcase!"

"I don't think a pillowcase can summon blood out your mouth." Bloodstone stated, raising a brow.

Amethyst coughed harshly, the side of her face stung. "The blood was there long before you hit me."

"You're acting a lot like Ruby." Bloodstone informed.

"Yeah, except I've got a stack of responsibilities while she's free as a bird." Amethyst nodded her head to the side, blowing the long strand of hair out of her face.

"But you're a kid. _Irresponsible_."

Unbeknownst to them, the Crystal Gems and Team Gem Squad came to the rescue.

"THE SAVAGE GEM TO THE RESCUE!" Lapis cried, jumping in from nowhere and bicycle-kicking Bloodstone in the chest. The black Gem slid onto the sand and dug a trench that was several yards long.

"Hey, I'm learning." Amethyst said in response to Bloodstone, shrugging.

Lapis looked over at Amethyst. She was about to give a hand on the chains to help her, but stopped herself. "Eh, I'm sure you could get out of it yourself." she said, turning her back on her. "You had that idea when you went alone against a _hundred and forty Gems_. It's only fair."

Amethyst laughed as Lapis charged at Bloodstone. She shook her head down. "What an _asshat_."

Just as Lapis was going to deliver a punch between Bloodstone's eyes, Ruby skidded onto the sand beside her and gently pushed the blue Gem away. Lapis fell so suddenly, yelping as she kicked the hot sand around.

"Bloodstone's _mine_." Ruby growled dismissively.

Lapis shrugged. "Okay. I guess." She got up and dusted herself. "Hey. Random question. Do you ever wonder what a Gem tastes like?"

"No— _What_?" Ruby's face scrunched up in digust. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"I have to admit, that's..." Bloodstone nodded, "...that's cannibalism. Pretty messed up."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you with my boredom. I was just asking you a _question_. So rude, jeez." Lapis said begrudgingly. "I was just wondering. Ya know, would our physical form taste like stone or a hologram?"

"Not the time. Get out." Ruby demanded scornfully.

Bloodstone went along with it. "Yeah, go away. Fight the army."

Lapis tilted her head, thinking. "Do we have different flavors? Like, do we taste differently? I bit my hand on the way here and licked my wrist but I didn't taste anything. I wonder if you'd taste something a lot spicier, because you're red and you use fire—"

"This Gem isn't retarded, is it?" Bloodston asked.

"Lapis. How old are you?" Ruby demanded.

"Uh... Don't know. Didn't keep track." she answered honestly. "If I had to say, at least over five thousand years old."

Ruby stared at Lapis incredulously. This was the Gem that kept Steven out of their reach for _ten_ years. She was about to say: _I thought you were smart._ But she stopped herself. "Are you pretending to be stupid?" she asked instead.

"Sometimes geniuses need to answer the _small_ questions—"

Ruby stopped her there.

"Get out and eat someone. I don't want to hear more. The more you stay, the more you persuade me to listen and I don't want that." Ruby informed, pointing at the pyramids. Behind it, there was lightning and ice being shot in all directions, as well as a few roars of a fabulous lion.

Lapis' stern look came back. "You don't boss me around. _However_ , I do find it entertaining to fight a hundred Gems, so if you'll excuse me, I will be over there, stalling the end to that war..." She turned around, holding her nose high, and walked past Amethyst, who was still strapped to the pillar. She smirked and muttered, "Unlike you, I have the power to back it up." as she passed Amethyst.

"WOW. Just WOW." Amethyst exclaimed.

* * *

Steven, Connie and Ruby were sitting on Lion, bashing skulls in and casting ice and lightning at incoming Gems.

There was a firing squad in position and getting ready. About thirty Gems with projectile weaponry had joined the firing squad and let loose a bundle of energy arrows, fireballs, ice shards, acid sprays, rocks, hooks, daggers, whatever, and most importantly of all, rockets.

Sapphire clawed upward at the air, and a shield of ice erupted from the ground and caught all their weapons.

"This is so exciting!" Connie shouted over the wails of battle screams. She cast another bolt of lightning at a Rogue Gem. Another Gem tried to get her, but was careful to not touch the Wand. Connie elbowed her into the ground. "There is so much happening all the time!"

"They're smarter than before." Steven replied, sinking into Lion's fur as he blocked five Gems with his pink shield. "It wasn't _this_ hard..."

"That's because they have their mind back, Steven. And they're focused on _this_ battle. They're not like the zombies they were back on Kronos Quad or Dexterity Castle." Sapphire informed, shooting an ice shard through a Gem's chest. The Gem stopped in its tracks, poofing, as another Gem called out to it. Rage could be seen in that other Gem's eyes. "They're sentient. Not mindless. And have personality to them. They know how to fight, and they're gonna use that advantage."

"Do they remember what I did?" Steven asked, trying to push his shield against five Gems. They didn't overwhelm him yet, as the demigem succeeded in toppling them.

"You accidentally decapitated them."

"It was mom's powers!"

"Everything's so interesting! They're just... This battle is so colorful. They have emotions of sadness, bitterness, joy, rage and fear." Connie remarked. Her shoulders slumped.

In an instant, a light blue Gem swooped down and took Connie to the sky like an eagle. Steven's eyes wided in fear. "CONNIE!"

He swung his shield as hard as he can, tearing air and curving it with the wind. The pink disk roared from the winds and neared the aquamarine Gem, before said Gem turned and grabbed the shield with some kind of magical energy, and flung it back at Steven. The pink shield was covered in a fog of blue, while it started brimming with white.

Lion noticed this and turned to roar at the shield. RAAWRR! The frequency of the outburst cracked the incoming shield till its shattered into dust. Steven, in a fit of rage, jumped off the pink beast and kicked a Gem to the ground. He spun in a circle, pulled Rose Quartz's legendary sword out of Lion's forehead, and started sprinting like a gold medal olympic runner to chase after Aquamarine.

Aquamarine flew in the cloudless sky, clad in a black suit with a white top like a magician. Her suit entrails waved behind her as she flew at top speed. Her blue skin glistened like fairy dust. She struggled keeping her hold on Connie, who was panicking. And with panic, she tried attacking Aquamarine, but instead of focusing, she was flailing.

Steven pushed Gems away with his new boost of energy, tailing Aquamarine on foot. His eyes were set on her as he ran at full speed, legs and arms moving at optimal capacity. He raced the desert, till he ran out of stamina and had to take a breather. He paused, huffing and puffing with sweat drooling on his face.

KRAKOOOMM! Connie shot lightning at Aquamarine, and the two fell out of the sky.

"YAAAAGHHAHHHH!"

Aquamarine had her black coat fizzle with smoke and crackle with electricity. She struck the ground, _hard_ , and sunk into the sand. Connie, on the other hand, hovered off the ground with the help of the Gem Wand. She was amazed she didn't fall to her death, because she didn't know how to work the Gem Wand to help her fly. This was just a lucky day for her.

"The Wand..." Aquamarine muttered, spitting sand out as she got out of the sand, kicking the sand off her leather shoes. She opened her coat and picked out a black disk, which she waved around and turned it into a top hat. She placed it over her crystal blue hair.

"The Wand?" Connie repeated, confused. She landed on the ground, fingers still clenched around the star-pointed weapon. Today, she wore an upturned-collar sleevless jacket, with pale green shorts and a pair of dirty sneakers. "You know what happens when you touch the Wand, right?" she asked shakily, a little shocked over what happened to her.

Aquamarine shook the sand out of her hair. "I'm quite certain about what's to happen."

"And you still wanna have it?" Connie asked worriedly. Slung over her back was a sword, in case the Wand didn't appeal to her. But she was very focused on the Wand. She pointed it at her; always be behind your weapon.

"Yes. I wish to have it." Aquamarine replied, gritting her teeth.

The Gem walked over to the young warrior, a hand open and ready to grab the Gem Wand. Connie whispered something, and let loose a volley of electricity.

KRRAKATHHOOOMM! Since they were in the desert with no metals, the lightning didn't touch the ground or wander off, it was a straight spiral of blue and white. Aquamarine felt a surge of a billion volts go off through her whole body, burning up holes in her expensive suit, but she still stood her ground. Connie felt her own soul being absorbed into the wand. Overusing and overheating the weapon had to compensate with something to keep it going, so the human child's soul felt like grains of sand being blown away.

FOOOMM! The tunnel of light was dispersed into air, giving it a static vibe. It felt like if you moved too much, you'd get shocked in this thick atmosphere. Connie paused, feeling an air of static cling to her skin.

Aquamarine staggered, letting out a puff of smoke. "You ruined my outfit."

Connie didn't respond, panting. Her soul danced in distress around her. She felt lightheaded. Aquamarine seemed to duplicate into three before her very eyes.

The Gem walked over to Connie, closing her hand around hers. She took the Gem Wand right out of her hands.

"Wait! But—your hands... Aren't they..."

"...Supposed to melt away?" Aquamarine finished, looking down solemnly at the weapon. She slid her fingers around the rim of the handle. "But not in the hands of its creator."

Connie's eyes widened. "You're..."

The blue Gem waved the wand to her side, a trail of stars following the golden star. "I am _Aquamarine_ ; creator of _Quarain_ , the most powerful weapon in the galaxy."

* * *

Steven squinted at the sky, following trails of smoke and the last appearance of that giant wave of plasma.

A foot crunched the ground behind him, and the demigem turned cautiously.

Spinel, with his own created scale armor, stood in the middle of the desert with him. Steven stared at him for a while, waiting for Spinel to do something. The crimson Gem created a sword out of his own spikes. His red eyes shone through the slit of his helmet.

"Spinel," Steven said with a sense of recognition. "Uh, hi. How are you? Um, long time no see?"

"You remember me?" Spinel asked.

"How can I not?" Steven replied. This was the Gem that dropped a building on him back then. Of course, he would remember that. "Is... Is _Amber_ still there?" he asked worriedly.

Spinel huffed, blowing air in his face.

 _Okay, I guess I could ask another question._ Steven looked around, his eyes set on the pyramid. "Are you with the Bloodstone Rogue Nation or whatever it's called?"

"No. I was just in the neighborhood. And then I stumbled into you." Spinel answered, starting to walk around. Steven walked the opposite side, his pink sword following behind. "What a lucky coincidence."

Steven remained silent this time.

Spinel glared at him. "I want my rematch."

" _Rematch_?" he inquired.

"You and me. Let's finally decide who'll win in a fight." Spinel explained.

"Uh, yeah, I would do that. But I need to find my friend." Steven responded.

Spinel shot a few spikes at the demigem, who raised his arm and created his holographic shield reflexively. He was quick enough to catch all the projectiles in the shield, but they've already pierced through the shield. Steven threw his shield to the ground.

"I'm not asking." Spinel's eyes lit up in red. "This duel between you and me. This ends _today_!"

Steven shuddered. His grip on the sword tightened.

* * *

Amethyst was strapped to the pillar of stone with rolls of chains.

 _How did they even get this much metal?_ She thought to herself.

She looked at her friends and their battles; Ruby with Bloodstone, tearing up the side of an Egyptian pyramid; Sapphire and Lion fighting against the Bloodstone Rogue Nation; Lapis Lazuli demolishing some Gems with a spectacular array of creativity; and Steven and Connie were nowhere to be seen.

She sighed. _I think it's time for me to get into the action._

She shrunk into a bird and flew out of the chains. She then transformed back into her normal state, but a little bigger. She grew twice her size, tore the pillar that she was chained to, and threw it like a spear. It crashed into the battlefield with a plump of dust clouds.

Amethyst's Gem glowed, and she pulled out the gift Peridot had given her; the transforming weapon. It was called _Parry_ , like "Peri". She swung _Parry_ to her side and it brimmed with green energy. Its dark shell of metal whistled with every swipe, it looked like a fusion of a sword and a baseball bat. It was figured like a sword, but the blade was as thick as a baseball bat with green textures and symbols.

Amethyst charged into battle with Parry, slamming it into a Gem like a baseball bat, and blasting an array of energy blasts from the tip of the thick blade.

Lapis was fighting with a big Gem. A Quartz really. It swung its big fists around, while Lapis dodged them easily, since she floated back.

The Quartz yelled, "Why don't you _fight back_?!"

Joyfully, Lapis gave a condescending smirk. "I've filled your body with water. Are you sure you still want me to fight back?"

"So? What does water have to do with—"

Lapis brought her arm up and pushed the Gem in the chest, which sent all the water flying. Since the Gem was housing this water, she was sent flying as well.

The blue Gem dusted her hands. "That is what water has to do with it. Actually, that sounded a bit off. That wasn't proper grammar. I don't know anymore."

"A Lapis Lazuli, huh?" A shadow loomed over the thin blue Gem.

Lapis turned to face this new challenger, who was a big orange soldier. A Jasper with her Gem located on its arm. The brute had a flock of white hair going down her waist, and had that familiar big, bulky frame. It grinned proudly, like she could defeat the water Gem. Lapis had the same smug look, flapping her stolen leather jacket.

"Yeah. And what are you? A Jasper?" Lazuli retorted with a cheesy smile. "Okay, I'll admit, I've been running out of content to work with."

POWW! The blue Gem flew a hundred feet backwards, heading straight into the sand dunes. The mountain of sand exploded upon impact, as a yellow meteor followed after Lapis, driving their knee into their stomach. Lapis choked on her spit, before being thrown into the ground. The Jasper stomped her foot into her face, sending out a shockwave that blew out a crater of sand.

BAM! BAMM! BAMFSH! The orange Gem stomped on Lapis multiple times, each with growing fierceness and brutality. Then as she was about to send another foot in Lapis' way, the blue Gem rose from her literal burial and caught Jasper's foot.

Small, cold and calculating eyes stared into fierce, bold ones.

Lapis turned Jasper on her back, created a water gauntlet, and struck it deep into the brute's stomach. She leaped over Jasper's head, sending a kick into her spine. Jasper spun, creating her orange war shield over her arm and bashed the water Gem in the face. Lapis skidded back, her hair messy and face bruised. Still, she kept that psycopathic look in her eyes. The pair of eyes that are wide open and sharp, but with pupils that have shrunken down to mere dots.

"You've made a terrible mistake." Lapis announced. "I like that."

Jasper raised a brow. "You entered this domain and expected to win easily? No..." she shook her head, "...I've seen how you fight. Lousy. You're gonna have the worst time of your life."

Lapis' eye twitched. She shuffled her feet apart and got into a defensive stance. Her water constructs vanished.

"You wanna see how I really fight?" Lapis taunted, "Come on, fair fight me. One on one, just close quarter combat."

Jasper's war shield vanished and she got into position. Cautiously, she kept her eye on Lapis.

Lapis charged, sending a kick to her side, spinning round and pushing her palms out into Jasper's chest. The brute blocked, responding with a couple fast punches and an arm grab. She pulled, and Lapis used the momentum to kick her back. Jasper turned, letting the kick miss, before kneeing Lapis in the jaw.

The water Gem stumbled back.

Lapis huffed, then laughed. She threw her head back and howled.

The next thing Jasper knew, Lapis threw herself at her, ramming her fists and boots at her. Jasper blocked some, got bruised, and countered others. But with her physical body being bigger and stronger, she had an advantage over Lapis' speed and ferocity by being able to take whatever she dished out. Jasper sent a punch straight at Lapis' face. The blue Gem stared at the fist carefully, before moving around it and elbowing the orange Gem in the elbow joint.

Jasper roared and staggered back. The pain was mind-numbing. Lapis continued by leaping overhead, pulling her head back, and slamming her across the ground. Jasper rolled with the momentum, getting back up in the next instant.

Lapis panted, wiping her white blood off her bruised face.

The two stood against each other equally. Then, Lapis didn't care.

She shot a water spike at Jasper, who reacted quickly and brought up her war shield. The orange Gem didn't say anything about the foul play, since she was also getting bored with that half-assed fighting they had done.

* * *

Ruby tackled Bloodstone into the side of the pyramid, cracking every brick of the monument.

Bloodstone growled, headbutting Ruby away. The red Gems hastily swung their fists at each other, and rolled with the punches. They made heavy movements, always pulling their arm back dramatically before punching. Ruby spawned her red gauntlet and knocked Bloodstone's jaw into the ground. She continued hammering, endlessly attacking relentlessly.

Bloodstone caught her fist, holding it away.

"So, I see that killer instinct in you..." Bloodstone had a glint of pride in her eyes. "How many have fallen victim to your bloodthirsty tantrums?"

Ruby struggled to pull her fist back. "Not much."

"Oh, you're a killer. I know, I created you. You've killed _plenty_." Bloodstone laughed.

Ruby swung a fist at Bloodstone's face, but she dodged and the brick behind her shattered into pieces instead. "How are you here again? I thought I _killed_ you."

"And that will be our secret." Bloodstone replied, shaking her head disappointingly. "Nobody knew. They made you spare me. But you got out of your way to get my bubbled-up self out of the burning room, and shattered me to pieces outside where nobody saw."

Ruby grunted. "How'd you survive?"

Bloodstone smacked her lips. "Five thousand years ago, I made a promise. Well, I am here to fulfill it."

The hotheaded Gem's face paled.

"Do you remember it?"

"HYAAA!" Ruby shouted, pushing through her grip and landing a fist into her face. The rage behind that punch shattered the air around them, creating a shockwave that dismantled all the bricks on that side of the pyramid. Bloodstone sunk into the pyramid, falling into the tombs.

Ruby leaped after her, quickly trying to find the best way to shatter her.

She aimed her arm at her, and fired her gauntlet at Bloodstone. The rocket-propelled gauntlet exploded upon impact, shakig the ceiling above them. Bits and pieces of the bricks in the roof fell to the ground and tore the ground into deeper floors. The pyramid started to fall into itself.

Bloodstone got back up, but was immediately sent into the ground harshly by Ruby's forearm. The dark Gem chuckled as the floor beneath her rumbled. Ruby felt like she was standing on shaking paper. Bloodstone glowed in the dark, giving light to the inside of the pyramid. Ancient tombs and passages and writings surfaced on the walls. Statues of Egyptian gods mostly the god of dead, Anubis, the jackal were standing.

Ruby paid no attention to the detail, and sent a powerful kick in Bloodstone's side. This only made her laugh.

Bloodstone craned her neck to see the distraught face of her failed creation. Ruby gritted her teeth at the sight of her smile, formed her gauntlet and blasted a spray of fire at her. The paper floor burned up and the holes on the ground grew.

Bloodstone stood, releasing an aura of darkness. Then, her aura flickered with other colors. Red, yellow, blue, white, purple, orange, green. The shrieks and screams of the already dead cried in Ruby's ears. The rainbow aura wasn't normal to Bloodstone, this was something else. Something she'd seen before. Bloodstone pulled out a bag of Gems from her robes, all of which were gray and sucked of life. She let it fall into one of the holes in the paper floor, and there was a resounding CRACK!

"What did you do!?" Ruby realized the aura from Bloodstone were the souls of other Gems. "NO! HOW MANY?! HOW MANY DID YOU ABSORB!?"

"Enough, Ruby, my _promise_..." Bloodstone announced, putting her arms to her side, "...remember? Let me introduce you to your _end_."

* * *

 **A/N: I looked up statistics in this archive. And this is the sixth longest word counted SU fanfic there is. Let us paddle along, comrades. We shall reach the top soon.**

 **I've been MIA lately. I've even done something I already regret, which was posting that joke story _Demigem Legends: The Kill Code_. Now I have to deal with that responsibility. Ya know what? I'm just gonna stay low for awhile and not do anything with that story for now.**

 **Anyways, this chapter took so long because I didn't know how to do it. The plotline for this chapter was just a sentence. To compare to the other chapters, they had one blocky paragraph. I made things up on the spot. I'm good at that. Now, there's more content for the next two chapters! Yippee!**

* * *

 **Breaking News: uh, i have no idea why i named this An Intricate G.A.M.E. Maybe because I wanted to set up the next chapter... Yep, each letter of game stands for something.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Gem, Assassin, Magician, End"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **NBDQLWH KHOSV KHU IULHQGV."**


	31. Chapter 29: Gem, Assassin, Magician, End

**Chapter 29: _Gem, Assassin, Magician, End_**

* * *

"Do you feel it Ruby? That burning light in your soul?"

While everything's falling down around her, Ruby tried to punch Bloodstone.

"That rage? The demon inside you? That need to fight? There is no stopping it, is there?"

The two spun as they fell deeper into the tombs of the pyramid.

* * *

Connie stumbled back. "Aquamarine... the creator of _Quarain_? Is... Is that what the Wand is called?"

"Yes." Aquamarine answered. She struck the air with the Wand, which grew a blade of light. It gleamed a clean indigo, a laser sword of the most powerful weapon. "I'm surprised someone could find a way to use this. And a _human_ at that! But, at least, all you know is how to create lightning bolts."

Connie slid her own sword into place, holding it out in front of her with two hands firmly.

Aquamarine tapped the tip of the blade on herself, and her magician suit repaired itself. Holes sewed and fabric cleaned themselves. Aquamarine spun the Wand around, cutting the air with the magical blade.

"You seem like you're ready for a fight." Aquamarine remarked, eyes half-lidded. "Are you?"

Connie trembled. She just felt her soul getting pulled away. In other words, she was tired. But the Gem stole the most powerful weapon in the galaxy from her, her gift from Lapis. She must get it back!

Groggily, she stumbled around, trying to get her footing. Connie couldn't focus. Her eyelids were getting heavy. She could feel the strain under her eyes. She clasped her hands around the sword and almost blacked out. She slapped herself to wake up.

"You don't want to keep this up." Aquamarine warned, shaking her head. The magician muttered a spell that cast a white barrier around Connie, the words "Soul Fatigue" can be seen across the barrier in an alien language. Their eyes widened at that, except from the two, Aquamarine's eyes were interested. "I can do much worse than _Death_."

"What... What did you do?" Connie demanded, panting.

"I'm checking what's wrong with you." Aquamarine stated truthfully. Her confident tone made Connie believe her. "You overworked Quarain. Now, here's a lesson about it. It needs to compensate for something when it's worked beyond its capacity. It takes part of your soul with you. Good trade, huh?"

"Uughhh..." Connie squinted, trying to focus on Aquamarine. She could see three of them. "Not a guh... Not a good trade..."

"Of course. You're human. I'm Gem. I'm more resilient. And..." She tapped her coat pocket with her Wand and pulled something out of it. It was a small green bottle with a cork. "...I have extra souls from the damned. I stay in touch with _Death_ itself to get these for free. I keep the souls, just in case. Also, to save my soul from becoming... _disturbed_."

Connie shook her head, her balance lost. She felt dizzy, except on a fourth dimensional level. Time and space seemed to elongate around her, before returning to normal. She could almost see the face of Death itself, but the entity was standing with three other people, in front of the Revolution base. Connie blinked. She felt like she was going to float off into a black hole.

"Oh, don't worry about your condition. Your soul will soon fix itself. You just need a good rest." Aquamarine tipped her hat off to Connie. "By "good rest", I don't mean death. You can't die. I'm Death's friend. If anyone's gonna die, I'd partially know."

With this bold statement, Connie rushed the Gem and slashed her sword at her. If she wasn't going to die, then she would give her all right here and now, regardless of the consequence.

KLANG! Aquamarine swiftly parried, tilting her hat down while only using one hand to manipulate her blade to catch Connie's. Except, to Connie's perspective, it didn't look like it. To her, space seemed to bend between the Wand's indigo blade and her sword, so at the same time, their blades didn't touch logically, but they did physically. It might be the soul fatigue that was messing with her mind or something else entirely.

Connie continued on, head swinging side to side dizzily, as she tried to make a hit on Aquamarine. The magician just stepped back and moved a tiny bit to block her actions. Connie leaped over Aquamarine's head, a trait she learned from Lapis, and struck from the back. Except, Aqumarine was already there, three of them were there. Connie swung once, and the three blocked in different ways.

The warrior held her head, keeping her sight on them. She blinked, and two were gone. Just the one Aquamarine.

"You have a brave spirit, Constance, Lord of the Universe." Aquamarine informed proudly. "If... that is your name." she added distastefully. "Nevertheless, you have tempted me, Aquamarine, the Magician. And I'll keep my promise. I told you I could do things worse than Death."

Connie nodded weakly, trying again to strike her. But Aquamarine's fingers caught the blade with magical energy and pushed against the sharp edge like it was nothing.

"People fear me. Gems fear _me_. Because I can do _permanent_ damage to them. I found a way to calibrate a Universal Code to permanently melt Gems with a touch of my Wand, _Quarain_. Think, child, what _I_ could _do_ to _you_." Her fingers touched her forehead, an inky, purple force of energy dripped into the ocean Connie was, corrupting her purity.

Connie's vision darkened. Her pupils flashed purple. She gasped weakly, her soul seemingly escaping her lips. The magical energy seeped into Connie, making light symbols and runes of witchcraft on her skin. The white barrier appeared over her, listing the words "Sleep", "Drowsiness", "Insanity", "Confusion", "Slight Amnesia", "Dreams", "Perception" and "Comatose" in the same alien language. Then, her aura and soul darkened.

"I could do... _anything_."

Everything Connie could perceive twisted into some sort of bowl of spaghetti. She could see her timeline, her birth and her death, whole fourth dimensions, and dreams. Peridot, Steven, Lapis, Priyanka, Doug, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, colors of their souls swirling and combining into one entity, her. Without them, she wouldn't be her. Or here.

 _Life and death, love and birth, peace and war, do it for him her stronger than you tower of mistakes entirelynew lovelikeyou nightmare_

 _iveforgotten icantrememberwhatishappening_

 _am i dead yet_

The runes and scriptures of purple light on her skin faded away. The white barrier had only one alien word: "Comatose". Aquamarine tipped her hat and let the kid go. She slid her Wand back into her pocket, where it belonged. No such powerful weapon could be in the hands of mortals. She looked back at the downed body of the child, whose eyes were blank white.

"And that's why you should fear me."

Finally, blackness.

* * *

Steven felt something bad in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know what it was, but he had an ominous feeling something's wrong.

The demigem struck Spinel with the flat of his sword, unable to use the edge to kill him. Spinel attacked with a mace to the face, which Steven accepted as his fate. He was sent sprawling on the sandy ground, sword and shield laid out before him.

"The legendary sword of Rose Quartz." Spinel noticed, "I've heard many tales of it."

"Uh-huh." Steven replied.

"Made of pure Diarön composite. Truly remarkable. It's practically indestructible." Spinel remarked. "It's atomic structure makes it cut titanium like butter. Its edge was told to tear holes in the fabric of space-time relativity."

"That's what Sapphire told me." Steven said as he got up. "But that last one isn't true at all."

"Of course. They were just rumors. Rumors to scare off the Diamonds if they ever attack. It's what we call a _bluff_." Spinel informed, holding his red broadsword high. "If it were true, it would never be used in battles like these. Never be in the hands of a child. Or else the _Universe_ would implode on itself. It would need to be stationed in a bubble, held in empty gravity, so it wouldn't do _anything_."

With each word, Spinel had been swinging his sword at Steven, who blocked it with his even more indestructible shield. Sprouts of fire and light came from the connection of their weapons. Shield and sword were dancing around, but all stopped when Steven finally parried with the legendary pink sword.

Steven grunted, "Let's see if any of those rumors are true!"

With finesse, Steven pushed the edge of his sword through Spinel's, cutting his weapon clean in half. The demigem smashed his hilt against Spinel's helmet, before striking him with the flat of his blade yet again, never trying to kill him or use lethal force. Steven spun and, this time, as an experiment, struck Spinel with the sharp edge of his sword. The crimson Gem raised his arm and created a thick shield of spikes that even Steven accidentally tore into half.

Steven pulled his sword back and kicked Spinel in the chest.

Realizing his own goal of saving Connie, the demigem decided to stop this fight and claim victory, or just forfeit and let him take the win.

"It's over, Spinel!" he shouted in his bravest voice. "I've defeated you. I have the upper hand with this sword!"

"You haven't killed me yet." Spinel replied gravely, getting back up. "Kill me and be victorious. Or I finish you off and _you_ lose."

 _Okay, I can't forfeit now. I can't win too, because by killing he would mean I need to shatter him by extension._ Steven thought. _I'm at a loss! If I go either way, I-I can't go with dying or killing! Can I really just_ kill _him?_

"You don't want to kill me... _coward_." Spinel said.

"I'm just a _child_..." he reasoned quickly. He didn't even think to do it, but for some reason he was trying to save his pride.

"Whatever. I'm a coward too." Spinel admitted. "I wouldn't want to kill a child."

"But you wanted me to kill you..." Steven raised a brow, bewildered.

Before they could say anything, a flash of light erupted from the ground and a familiar bluish cyan Gem coalesced into the battlefield. Kyanite stood in the middle of the desert, glaring. She had a dagger in each hand, ready to tear anything apart. The usual bloodlusted and crazy expression on her face was replaced with a calm, stoic and focused side to her.

"Sucks that I'm not a coward." she said.

She threw a dagger at Spinel, and it stuck to his chest plate with a CHINKT!

"Kyanite?" Steven said softly, unable to comprehend that the very Gem was there. "You can _speak_?" he cried out, "And you're helping me?!" he raised a brow.

"You're still Rose Quartz. Son. Important." Kyanite replied, glancing at Steven. In her mind, she was a child acting as an adult, because she was only two thousand years old. Five thousand if you counted the time she was bubbled, in which no time passes for any Gem. Just their subconscious feels it. "Onyx and Obsidian wouldn't want me not protecting you from danger. As for speaking... I can do that."

"Uh-huh." Steven replied.

"I can sense Onyx's energy." Kyanite informed. Hearing her form understandable words was weird to Steven, since all he heard from her were slurs and stretched out letters the rest of the time he knew her. "She's around here. Somewhere."

Spinel felt his chest burning. He had the Onyx gemstone with him. He knew sooner or later someone would catch him with this highly powerful energy signature. But he expected one of the Crystal Gems, not whoever this stranger was. He stood straight, redoubling his armor's defenses and plucking Kyanite's dagger out of his red spiked armor.

His eyes flashed yellow for a second, his mind slipped into Amber's consciousness for a second. Spinel was still back in charge, glaring at his opponents.

"I came to fight Steven." he stated.

"And I came to protect him." Kyanite tried to retort like her surrogate parents. "Looks like we have conflicting ideals."

* * *

"Okay. Real talk. How do you taste?" Lapis asked.

Jasper didn't let her gaurd down, fearing it was some kind of trick.

"No. Sorry. That's not what I meant. What I actually meant was: What do you taste like?" Lapis questioned, lowering her guard.

"You gonna eat me?" Jasper asked, still cautious.

"No!" Lapis exclaimed defensively. "I was just curious! The other Gems wouldn't answer me."

Jasper narrowed her eyes at the water Gem, who created a water hammer and slammed it against her war shield. The orange Gem knocked it away and jabbed at her face. Lapis gritted her teeth at the umpteenth time she struck her face, as Jasper leaped over her and double-kicked her into the sand. The two swam through sand and stone, using Lapis as a surfboard.

Lapis retaliated by summoning her water wings and tackling Jasper into the air.

As they went higher and higher, Jasper knew if she fell at the altitude Lapis wanted, she'd poof. So, the buff warrior struck Lapis' face with ferocious intensity behind it. The water witch faltered for a second, loosening her grip on Jasper.

"AGHH! Why is it always the face?!" Lapis mumbled.

Jasper let out another haymaker, ramming her fist into her jaw.

And before she knew it, they were both falling back to Earth at the same accelerating speed. Oxygen turned to fire as friction in the air built, kinetic energy rising and ready to be unleashed once they hit ground.

Lapis used her water wings and was about to fly, but Jasper knocked her out and they were sent tumbling to their deaths.

However, Jasper had a fail-safe for this. She charged her aura and used a boost of her "Comet Charge" energy to slow her fall. As she did, Lapis was falling faster than her, doomed to become an explosion of energy. Jasper listened to the raging winds calm down as she floated back down to Earth, safely without any repercussion. No impact to poof her, and she beat one of the Crystal Gems! (Or so she thought was a Crystal Gem.)

Lapis woke. Growling angrily, she slowed down her fall by expanding her water wings into dragon-sized water wings, and zipped back up at Jasper who was a slow, glowing comet falling into the desert.

Lapis pulled back a fist, that created a giant spike-filled baton, and was ready to sucker punch the Gem into oblivion.

 _This is going to get messy._ She thought dreadfully.

Jasper saw the blue Gem rise up with a more threatening demeanor, and prepared her war shield out.

 _Something tells me it'll go downhill from here._ Jasper thought. _But not for me!_

Lapis swung her giant spiked-filled-baton out, crashing into Jasper with utmost brutality, ripping apart her war shield at a speed so intense, Jasper was flung into the moon from the effort. Lapis followed, her rage yet to be quenched, as she yelled silently in space. Jasper crashed into the moon and rolled around like a tumbleweed, with Lapis hovering over her with icicle dragon wings. Because the water froze in space.

While using her brute strength, Jasper used all her energy and poured it all out to maximize her effectiveness. Her aura lit up in yellow flames, glowing brightly and shielding her from devastating attacks like being flung into a celestial satellite.

Silently, Lapis' ice-dragon wings spun around her like a twister, as she neared Jasper, ready to cut her up with her speeding shards of ice. She scowled when the ice just broke off upon impact of the orange Gem's tough skin and energy barrier, proving Jasper to be a resourceful fighter.

In empty space and with gravity that doesn't compare to Earth's (though it didn't matter, because Gems were hardwired to adapt to the gravity), the two powerhouses charged each other and created another small crater on the moon. There would be a massive shockwave if it weren't for the fact that they were on the _moon_.

Both were at an equal match of energy and raw strength, as they struggled to push each other in a landscape where their footing couldn't even be made. The moon's grounds just let their powerful feet slide into it like mush. So, they had to use their ability of flight to test themselves against each other.

Jasper used her war shield and bashed Lapis' skull, while the latter used whatever ice she had left in her wings and plunged it into Jasper's left arm; the arm that held her Gem. Jasper howled, picking up Lapis by the hair and leg with each arm, and held her up. Lapis squirmed, fearing her inevitable poof since there wasn't any water around. She gathered as much ice that was left on the floor, as she also tried to get out of Jasper's grip.

Apprehensively, Jasper readied her knee and forcefully slammed Lapis' back against it, snapping her into two.

Lapis gasped at the hell in the lower half of her body. As the agony progressively raged in her mind, the pain transcended into numbness.

The water Gem was still connected her lower half, don't worry, but she couldn't quite feel her legs. She got all the ice she had and patched it over Jasper's left arm, covering her entire limb in ice. Lapis screamed desperately, using the remains of her exhausted energy to telekinetically severe Jasper's arm, but no sound came from her voice.

Luckily, no disgusting sound came out as the water Gem ripped Jasper's frozen arm off.

* * *

 **Location: The Revolution**

* * *

Pearl stared yearningly at the Amber gemstone that they had locked up in a storage facility. She couldn't wait to finally make a perfected weapon out of the experiments they've done on her. She could finally destroy that smug Lapis—

 _No! No... Let's not think about her._ Pearl thought, holding her arms together. _Revenge could wait. Revenge will be slow. I'm not going to destroy her._

 _...yet._

"Pearl," a grandfather-like voice called.

"Moonstone." she turned and nodded politely to the old, loving coot.

His stern look was more focused than before.

"I can see hate in your eyes." he informed worriedly. Even after thousands of years, he could still read her like a book. "There's a fire in you. A fighter's spirit that could not be quenched. You're _thirsty_ for battle."

"Why'd you phrase it like that?" Pearl asked, weirdly out of the main point of the conversation. "Did Wild Card tell you that joke?"

"What?" Moonstone was as clueless as an old great grandfather could.

"You know... Quench, thirsty..." Pearl explained, sighing. "...Pearls are salty..."

"Uh..." Moonstone raised a brow. "I was just gonna say... if looks could kill, everyone in this room would be dead. To put it bluntly, you have a killing intention."

Pearl stared at him, trying to act clueless.

"Oh, don't bother hiding it." Moonstone shook his head, turning to look at the Amber gemstone with his usual back arched like it endured thirty years of slavery. "Who do you wanna kill?"

And of course, Pearl was open to him about her thoughts. Because she knew she could trust Moonstone more than anyone. "There's this Gem."

Moonstone shook his head with closed, disappointed eyes. "Yes. I definitely know who _that_ is. A real kicker to be honest." he retorted sarcastically.

She smiled meekly, before showing a hologram of full-sized Lapis. She pointed at the copy of the water witch who had a bored look on her face. "I want to kill this Gem."

Moonstone squinted, "It looks like... a genuine asshole."

"Exactly." Pearl replied, grinning as her master had the same first impression as her.

"I'm afraid to tell you this, Pearl. Those who seek to wreak havoc and destruction for otherwise good intentions would always end up as the villain. Not because those good who destroy accepted their fate, but because the scared ones make reasons to antagonize and find a hero to overthrow them." Moonstone stated.

Pearl clasped the Lapis hologram by the cheek, before her hand instinctively crushed the hologram's head. She looked to the ground. "But those are just stories of morale that your wise head cooks up."

"Where do you think stories like these originate? Why do you think that villain has power like that in the first place? They have _intentions_ with a destructive outlet. Someday, they'll burst." the old Gem said, "I'm probably wrong, but with my experience, almost all do for different or similar reasons. Or they die saving the day."

"Lapis has intentions too!" she blurted out.

" _Lapis_? That's her name? Lapis Lazuli?" Moonstone pouted. "Huh. I didn't think Gems like Lapis Lazuli could become your hated enemy. They're just batteries back on Homeworld. Looks like they had potential after all."

"She's a destructive force too." Pearl replied, "Yet people don't think of her as the enemy!"

"What _can_ she do?" he asked curiously.

"She can manipulate water, whole bodies of the ocean on Earth, at an atomic level." Pearl informed, getting dramatic about it. "She could destroy the world if she wanted to. Wipe out humanity for the fun of it!"

"And after all this time, she hasn't done it." Moonstone said. He solemnly looked at the ground. "And Homeworld doesn't have water. And normally, Lapis Lazuli have code that makes them chemically melt in the stuff. That's probably why they're useless... But this one realized her potential and has a malfunction in her code to restrict her from melting from water. Fascinating."

"Don't "fascinate" her! There's nothing wonderful about her! She's the devil spawn like whatever the humans call them!" Pearl snapped, "And are you saying that _I'm_ the villain? I don't even have power that matches her. I don't even stand up to someone like her. And she's not the hero either! I'm the one making an effort to save the Earth from itself, does Lapis do that? No! I'm the hero—"

"Why can't you both be the heroes?" Moonstone raised a tired brow. "Worth a shot. And also about your "not as powerful as her" situation? You've been experimenting on that naturally-occuring Gem for a way to negate hers."

Pearl panted, feeling defeated. "You're... right."

"I get that you hate her for an amount of reasons... So, I'll probably just say that as we get older, we get considerably sadder with what we learn." Moonstone shrugged. "You're not the villain, Pearl. I know that well. But I hope I'm not wrong about you. You're smart. You probably already have a hundred rebuttals about that little story I made."

Pearl smiled at that remark.

The halls flashed red and the sirens went off. _"FOUR INTRUDERS HAVE BROKEN INTO THE ASSEMBLY LAND. I REPEAT, FOUR INTRUDERS HAVE BROKEN INTO THE ASSEMBLY LAND!"_

"Assembly land? What a weird name." Moonstone commented.

"Yeah, they didn't know what to call it. It's a place of assembly. Outside." Pearl pointed.

* * *

Assembly Land...

"You know what's the plan." a young, human assassin told his three comrades. They had just intruded in the Revolution's main headquarters. They assented, and he nodded at the army they were facing. "Bring them war."

A grim-looking entity among the four held a scythe and wore a black hood that stretched to the ground. It raised his scythe and an aura of pure black death excreted from his cloak. Death itself floated off the ground, and chained the army's feet with the desecrated skeletons of the dead.

The second one was just as scary to look at. An ultramarine demonic mask with intriguing white eyes that glowed throughout the mask like the wearer had to wear a black mask just so he wouldn't blind the entire field. His suit was the same color, except darker without the light glow from his face. His legs were fitted with sharp, golden armor platings that make it look like his legs were the main focus. His suit consisted of his leather shoulder plates being sewed into it, and his forearms had the same sharp, golden platings as his legs. The suit had five colorless diamonds that were made to look like a shattered, upside-down star. To top it off, his hands had the demon's claws. The suit was stretched to the point it seemed under all that cloth, there was an actual demon breathing through the suit.

The third one was just a black-haired man with a wooden staff that had runes of an alien language engraved on it. He wore a white suit jacket, a red tee underneath, and a pair of jeans. His shoes were just normal sneakers anyone could find in shopping malls. All in all, a normal-looking guy with strange bracelets and necklaces and a staff.

Finally, the leader, a little bit shorter than most of them, but wore heavy military grade armor that was just a black spray-painted copy of the white armor the Revolution soldiers were now wearing. With a new black-tinted glass helmet that nobody could see through, a thick blade that looked disturbingly painful to be hit by, and dual pistols by his sides that seemed too movie-stylish to be considered practical.

"Well? What are you two standing for?" the leader asked in his distorted voice. "Go wreak havoc on these fools."

The speed demon charged first, speeding by as an invisible blur, knocking the whole army in a second. As he slowed to a stop in front of the headquarters, standing behind his non-lethal massacre, the sowing on his suit was moving around like creepy bugs; quickly scattering around before stopping. The speed demon gave an eerie grunt, the air expelled from his unseen mouth could be seen as a controlled explosion trying to get out of his fully-sealed cloth mask.

"Well, he did it." the normal-looking guy said, shrugging as he walked around the bodies lf the unconscious. He looked over and saw a bunch of them looking like they've broken at least a couple of bones. "You sure did a number on these guys."

The speed demon growled at him with stoic, white glowing eyes. He didn't even have eyeholes on his black mask, the intensity of the brightness just peers through.

The leader gave a nod of appreciation for his two friends Grimm Reaper and the speed demon. He didn't give any gratitude for the normal guy as he just trudged past him and kicked the tall front gates of the headquarters open. The normal guy was irked by nobody giving any real responses.

"Hey, we have mouths for a reason!" the normal guy exclaimed, "So we can _communicate_."

Death hovered over the bodies of the unconscious and took the souls of the weak-willed into a green vial in his scythe. The speed demon just glared at the normal guy, the speedster's chest heaving with heavy breaths. Grimm Reaper ignored the normal guy as souls of the weak followed him around to get into the vial.

"Wait, do you two have any mouths?" he asked.

"Shut... up..." the speed demon said in a slow and groggy voice, every tick in the words being stretched out. The speedster then sped into the halls of the headquarters without another word, running past Pearl and Moonstone like a breeze in the wind.

The leader looked at the two Gems and just shook his head. "I'm after Commander Jacob Samson." He turned to his two partners. "You two take care of this."

"Oh no, you don't!" Pearl chased after the leader, who was already fleeing into the depths of the giant headquarters.

This left Moonstone with Death and a normal guy. Normal guy said, "Hello, old man! My name's Adam Quantiny. I'm a battle magician, expert at Gem witchcraft and the Universal code of reality."

"I doubt that." Moonstone replied in his grave voice. "I know the aura of a magician wrapped in power of the Universal code of reality. You're not one."

"Oh, you saw through my bluff!" Adam exclaimed, putting forth his staff. "But I am an expert at magic! I'm learning, but it's enough."

"I know. I'm not good against magic. That's why there are other Gems to handle you." Moonstone said.

From behind Death and Adam, two Gems, golden and silver, burst into the room with untapped energy. Howlite and Pyrite stood in the way of the entrance, the silver Howlite with crossed stoic arms, while the golden Pyrite was standing upright with arms to her side.

"The guy in the hoodie looks like the main one." Pyrite remarked with adult naivety and child curiosity.

Howlite was looking at Pyrite and Death, but didn't respond because she felt she was too superior to answer her.

"Oh, I see. There are at least one of those people in a group that don't talk." Adam noted, knowing Grimm Reaper, the speed demon, and his leader don't talk much.

"And there are those people in a group who are stupid enough to talk endlessly like an idiot." Howlite retorted with a tone in her voice that made her sound of cruel royalty, even though she was shorter than most of them.

"Really? I didn't know that." Pyrite said.

Howlite didn't make an action towards her and continued to berate Adam. "You're an expert at Gem magic, I heard. Please, do enlighten me on the topic of the worst class of battle in the history of forever."

"Howlite, I think you're gonna end up being the one who'll talk endlessly." Pyrite reminded, "And you know it's true."

"Shut up, goldilocks, someone who matters is talking here." Howlite scowled. "Now, magician—"

"That wasn't very nice." Adam joked.

"Oh, you and Pyrite are going to be the perfect couple I can tell. Cause you're both softhearted and talkative chumps." Howlite turned to the Grimm Reaper. "I'm gonna go up against you instead."

Moonstone shook his head. "That one is too powerful, Howlite."

Howlite nodded at her master. "Then... I guess I'll have to settle for the magician. Ugh..." she sighed defeatedly, if her master told her that one was too strong, then she'll follow through with her command. She glared at the magician. "Witch, do you have any expertise that'll make our battle interesting?"

"Howlite, you speak too much." Pyrite mentioned. "I counted the words. You talk more than me and Adam combined."

"I don't care and I don't think it's true!" Howlite shouted. She lit up her white aura and charged at Adam with flashing energy, striking his magical barrier. Her eyes burned gray trails of vitality. "I have the ability to manifest energy out of my body and use it to my advantage! My partner in orange has the ability to generate _power_! Do you honestly think you could give us an exciting matchup?"

"You're energy and she's power." Adam noted, holding his barrier strong with the palms of his hands. "I can handle that."

* * *

The speed demon sped into the Gem hall and stood in front of forty Gems.

In a minute, he wasn't standing in front of forty Gems. But rather, their gemstones.

He was looking for someone, and if it wasn't that someone, he'd be disappointed further and disappointment leads to grief. Grief leads to rage. And rage is an outburst he was familiar with. He curled his claws into a fist and banged the metal wall beside him. His suit sparked with green electricity for a moment.

He gave a breath of disappointment, which made his mask stretch out a bit where your mouth was supposed to be. That's when the Gem he was looking for entered the giant room in the opposite end.

Hematite stood at the end, a lot less bulkier than before. His body shrunk and became more leaner to sacrifice strength for the speed. His rocky look was the same as before, just a bit more humanoid. Lava still coursed through his veins, and as usual it was not affecting anything. They were practically holograms that could look how they wanted.

Jade stood by his side, with the same ninja attire and face scarf. _Her_ mask covered her nose and mouth.

The speed demon grunted as he glared at the two.

"Who are you?" Hematite demanded in a commanding voice.

"You... know... who I... _am_..." the speed demon announced, his voice low and dark.

Jade stepped in front and stood firm. She lolled her head around, cracking her knuckles in ready for the speed demon. Her eyes glinted a bright green.

The speed demon grunted, "I wanted... to say... _hi_..."

The silent green Gem sped over to the speed demon, who vanished into a blur. She disappeared into a blur too and followed after the speed demon, experiencing a closed off time period where everything's slowed down. The speed demon and the ninja were able to get away with things like clinging to walls by abusing his speed and messing with time and the law of gravity. They were going fast enough to negate the acceleration of falling.

The two chesed around the room so much it turned into a hurricane of air pressure and slashes. Hematite didn't even bother trying to follow their movements.

Finally, with gemstones flying around, the speed demon had Jade by the throat, holding her up with one hand. He stood in the middle of the room, glaring at Hematite with white, piercing eyes.

Jade brought down her mask and revealed her mouth, which wasn't anything too bad. Except, she spat a mushy goo on the speed demon's suit, which starting sizzling and melting. Acid spit straight from the Centipeedle herself. The speed demon threw Jade into a wall with enough force to make it vibrate, and shook the acid spit off his living suit.

With the velocity he had previously shown, shaking the acid away made it all drip to the ground and melt the floor. His suit didn't show signs of damage, but it moved around constantly while not moving around. It seemed to repair itself, but it wasn't.

The speed demon had green electricity run around him for a moment again, lighting the room green for a few blinks.

Jade got up, unsheathed a sword, and held it out.

The speed demon ran to her and snapped her sword with his claws, punching her in the throat and slamming her to the wall.

" _Do_... _not_... _tempt_ _me_..." he growled.

Jade responded with raised eyebrows, before she spat in his face with her acidic spit. The speed demon roared and flung her to the other side of the room with one throw. Hematite watched gravely, not to intervene until so. He knew who this speed demon was.

Jade crashed through wooden tables that the Gem hall had, and got back up instantly. She touched the wall and she became completely invisible. The speed demon wasn't amused by the trick in the slightest. He glanced at Hematite and rushed over to him.

"So... much for... _allies_..." the demon said.

Jade grappled the distracted speed demon from behind and performed a suplex on him. He growled at the annoyance and took her by the back of her neck, raising her up. He nodded at Hematite, who clenched his fists harder.

"This... will only... take... a second..." The speed demon vibrated his hand like a jackhammer and plunged it into Jade's mouth, pulling out her gemstone from her throat. The ninja just poofed lifelessly.

Hematite lost himself after seeing that.

The speedster sped in front of Hematite, wind pressure and aura changing greatly around him. The fabric of the speed demon's suit was actually running around, crawling over his body while maintaining its design. It was moving, _living_. The dead white eyes of the speedster made Hematite stare into them with a sense of dread. He gave a breath of discontent like he usually does, an explosion of air going off in his mask.

"And... I also... wanted... to say... _goodbye_..." the speed demon informed with a rough, dry voice.

Hematite didn't take another second wasting on figuring out who he was. He only knew of one supernatural force that could go this fast. And that name belong to...

"Emerald."

The speed demon growled at his own name.

* * *

The leader Assassin found the main attraction like he knew the headquarters like the back of his hand. He found Commander Samson's office. Standing guard was Wild Card, who was informed of the situation.

The leader frowned at Wild Card. He knew if he turned, he'll have to face Pearl, and she was much worse dealing with than Wild Card. The soldier was taller and holding a rifle, but it was better than a _Gem_.

"I know you," the leader said, "Your name, your work, your skill... all impressive."

"And I don't know you," Wild Card retorted, "Your name, your work, your skill... nada."

"Greg," the leader informed, already making Wild Card hate him by using his first name. They were _not_ on a first-name basis, at all. "I'm not after you. I'm after Commander Jacob Samson."

"And you won't get to him." Pearl announced from behind.

The leader sighed and unsheathed his thick blade. It was a sword made of a dense substance, but thick, so it wouldn't cut, instead it would _break his opponent's bones_.

"Pearl, the first Gem any human government had ever invited into their cause." the leader stated. "You're tough. They haven't figured out your weakness. And it's always been bugging me, but _why_ are you so caught up in finding that weakness? Literally and metaphorically."

Pearl pulled out a spear from her gem and held it firm.

"The humans are gonna use that weakness to their advantage and when that happens, _I_ will know." the leader threatened.

"It'll be too late." Pearl replied.

He shook his head, "Oh no, it's _never_ too late. I have a _friend_. His name is the Grimm Reaper, a personification of _Death_. Everyone's weak against _Death_."

Upon saying the entity's name, black fire sprouted from beneath Pearl's feet, creating a circle wall of flames around her. She looked around, alarmed, and tried to jump out. The Reaper blocked her way instantaneously, slamming her back into the barrier of fire. She slammed against the flaming walls, with THUDS that sound harder than metal. That black fire wasn't nonphysical. But it didn't look physical, with it wrapping around the air.

Pearl tried to push through the fire, but its ever-changing solid shape just boggled her mind. She looked up again and _Death_ looked back. Fearlessly, she aimed her spear at the entity, which just phased through it.

The leader turned to focus on Wild Card. "I don't mean to cause any harm to any of you. I just want to target the commander."

"What strange fascination do you have with him?" Wild Card asked.

"He's my father." he answered.

"Your _father_?" Wild Card repeated after him, bewildered. He looked up at Death, who was hovering over Pearl's cage. "You have your so-called _Death_ as your bodyguard? Because you have a grudge against your _father_?"

"Oh yes." the leader said, "My hate extends over the boundaries. I am a necessary evil."

Greg wondered if _Steven_ felt this way. A life full of hate for his dad, and wanting nothing but to kill him himself. But that's _impossible_. Steven's not that kind of kid. Or, was he?

"You're short." Wild Card noticed, "How old are you?"

"Old enough." he replied, "I've been dead for ten years and my body was preserved in cryogenic sleep. So, my body didn't age in that time."

"What's your name?" Wild Card asked.

"Zack Samson." the leader answered, tilting his head back. "Anymore questions?"

Greg couldn't resist asking, "What's your favorite color?"

"Red. The color of blood." Zack replied. "Often a sign of _hate_ and _rage_. _Compels_ the aggressive to move forward and attack fiercely."

"Hm. Detailed." Wild Card asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I believe that if anyone's looked at _Death_ , they have my respect." Both glanced at the floating entity. "And you're a man of composure. You're the greatest soldier and assassin that ever lived. I want you to grace in that. Because I am going to ruin you."

Wild Card ignored that little mention. "Can I still ask questions?"

"My patience has run out." Zack held the thick blade in front of him. "Human fights don't last long because of our little perseverance. I don't expect this fight to go long."

Greg held the butt of his rifle out like a bat. Now they both had thick swords.

Zack closed the gap between them with a giant leap and swung his sword at Greg's face, but he ducked and swung his rifle against Zack's helmet, cracking it. The leader slammed into a wall.

"Not so confident now, huh?" Wild Card taunted, spinning his rifle back into a gun.

Zack got back up, and was immediately shot in the head by Greg. Wild Card aimed his gun at the leader, thinking he would rise again.

And he did. BANG!

Zack swung his sword so quickly that he was able to swat the bullet and leave it on his sword. He charged at Wild Card with a cracked and shot helmet and slammed him against the opposite wall, then furiously striking him in the waist with countless punches. Greg kicked, which Zack caught his leg and threw him at the ceiling with monstrous strength. Wild Card smashed the high ceiling and landed on the ground with a roll.

"You're not human..." Greg grunted, getting back up. He had no weapon. "...that's not _human_ strength..."

"It is not. I am biologically enhanced." Zack's voice became disoriented in a dark way.

Wild Card put on a stance, putting his legs apart and putting his balance on a side that helped him attack easier. Zack sneered, before running at him and did a drop-kick that went through Greg's defenses. Wild Card stumbled back, before kicking Zack to the ground before he got back up. Greg somersaulted in the air and kicked him again with more force and momentum put into it. Zack fell again, but he regained his composure and doubled his efforts, swinging a haymaker into Greg's waist as he tried to kick him again.

Zack tugged his long hair, pushed his face into his knee, slamming it repeatedly after any human would get knocked unconscious.

Groggily, Greg got back up. He felt lightheaded, numbed from pain.

"I knew this fight wouldn't last long." Zack stated, reassessing his sword.

Greg threw a punch, that Zack dodged by stepping back, and then Greg spun around, bringing momentum to a kick, that Zack blocked with both forearms. Wild Card panted, punching Zack in the knee, which he didn't do anything about and opened up to more attacks. Greg, with adrenaline running through him, smashed his fist against Zack's helmet and dealt an uppercut with the other fist that threw Zack against the fire barrier.

WHAM! The leader slammed against the wall of fire that prevented Pearl from escaping, before getting his leg kicked by Greg in a way that would snap most people's legs. Wild Card kept hammering punches at Zack, until the leader grabbed him by the wrist and heabutted him with his cracked helmet. Greg fell back, bloodied and bruised.

Zack held his sword by his side, ready to end it.

Greg stood back up, pulling out a knife from his back and a grenade.

"Catch," Wild Card said, tossing the grenade at Zack, who deflected it with his sword. It was a smoke grenade, exploding and blinding the room with heavy, gray smoke.

"My father wouldn't put up much of a fight compared to you." Zack stated, not even moving in the cloud of smoke. "So why bother trying so hard defeating me? Just rest easy and I'll do what I wanted and go away, easy as that."

Greg pushed through the smoke and landed a punch between Zack's eyes. He held a knife and plunged it into his neck. Zack caught his arm before he could do it, and twisted it around, causing Greg to become his hostage. The two walked out of the smoke, with Zack pushing him at the giant door that led to Jacob Samson's office.

Zack swung his heavy sword at Greg's leg, snapping it in half.

"You didn't want to do this the easy way. So, you're not going to go down like that!"

Zack held him up and punched him through the doors, shattering his ribs.

He stepped inside, grabbed Greg by the arm, and swung him outside. The man was about to slam into the fire barrier, but that vanished into thin air, and Greg crashed into Pearl. The Gem hurriedly got back up, dashing into the room, but the Reaper blocked her way with black fire.

"What does _Death_ gain from this?!" she demanded, slamming the flaming barrier out of frustration.

"A favor." Zack told her from behind the fires. "That I already did."

Jacob Samson stood across from Zack, solemn and disappointed.

* * *

 **Location: The Desert**

* * *

Ruby slammed Bloodstone into the ground.

Bloodstone got back up, cackling. Her voice echoed through the tombs creepily.

"What is it?! What do you _want_ from me?" Ruby demanded, pulling her up by the collar. "Why can't you just DIE?!"

Bloodstone placed her hands over hers. "I made a promise... I keep my promises, kid."

The dark Gem flailed her aura out, lashing whips of colorful energy at Ruby. The hotheaded Gem flipped back, springing herself away with two hands. She stopped to watch as Bloodstone's form grew, claws ripping apart her fingers and toes, bony horns pointing outwards from her head and back. A loud, animalistic yell escaped her lips, as tentacles of pure energy sprung out of her back.

Horrified at what her former teacher had become, Ruby gave a disgusted look. Bloodstone had absorbed the energy and souls of countless Gems, just to give herself an edge over her. It was cruel, selfish... and lazy.

"Power hungry..." Ruby criticized under her breath.

"You can't hide from your demons." Bloodstone informed, her voice grungy. "They'll get you, Ruby. But that doesn't matter anyways. You're not gonna live for long."

Bloodstone blasted an array of light at Ruby, using raw Gem energy to attack instead of manifesting physical forces of nature. Ruby created a shield of fire, but the light pierced through her barrier and struck her towards the Egyptian walls of the temple. Cracks were imprinted on the weakened, age-old walls, as Ruby was trapped between light and stone. Bloodstone rose into the air, using the ability to fly like some Gems were capable of.

Ruby summoned an air of fire and deflected her blasts, leaping from the wall and drop-kicking Bloodstone in the air. Using her newfound abilities, Ruby hovered in the air using heat to push herself up. It was a fact that hot air rises and cold air just sinks under hot air. Ruby created spheres of fire and threw them at Bloodstone, who shot another beam of light at the red Gem, dispersing her fireballs simultaneously.

Ruby spun around the beam, displaying a gauntlet and aiming it at Bloodstone, who snarled and started shooting a frenzy of energy bullets.

Ruby dodged the attacks, holding her gauntlet close to choose another moment to attack. The energy bullets struck the walls of the basement of the pyramid, destroying parts of the infrastructure and making rubble and ground move for outsiders. Bloodstone charged at Ruby, who swung a gauntlet at her.

CHUNK! Bloodstone nudged the gauntlet out of her face and grabbed Ruby by the cape. She spun around and swung her against the fallen statue of Anubis, before stabbing her back with her claws.

Ruby groaned, a weird sensation passing through her body. Being impaled by a sharp rock through her stomach was something she hadn't experienced in a long time. She fought through the pain and positioned her gauntlet at Bloodstone's face. The latter was confused, not knowing her tricks.

"Boom."

Ruby's arm exploded in Bloodstone's eyes, caking her with fire, smoke, and shattered remains of a gauntlet. Bloodstone thrashed out immediately, flinging Ruby around and still pentrating through her midsection. Ruby summoned a wave of heat through her body, glowing orange and surpassing temperatures of over a thousand degrees.

Bloodstone retracted her now melting and smoking claws, looking at her burning opponent. She couldn't see her properly, with the air waves being polluted with heat making it seem as thought Ruby's form was glitching and vibrating. However, she was just standing still, the illusion of a fiery warrior cast over Bloodstone's eyes. The ground was starting to melt into lava.

"You've learned something new." Bloodstone said, unimpressed.

"Was that a surprise to you?" Ruby retorted.

The dark Gem crouched, awaiting another trick.

Ruby held a fist back, concentrating heat to burn up on one spot. Her orange glow faded into a blue one, vanishing into her right arm. Gases around started to superheat, electricity starting to crackle, plasma itself starting to form. The state of matter the sun was made of: plasma. Also electricity. Superheated gas. A striking temperature that's five times hotter than the surface of the sun. All condensed into a Gem's hand.

The floor steamed, turning red like lava. Bloodstone hovered off the ground.

Red electricity sprouted from Ruby's hand.

"You actually did it. You made lightning. Good job." Bloodstone remarked sarcastically.

Ruby glared, her hand numbing from the strain. "You're gonna eat it, bone-face."

"Aw, like you could direct it." Bloodstone punched her in the face, fearless of the scorching heat Ruby was producing. "You have one chance."

Ignoring that her nose was broken, Ruby created her gauntlet and grabbed Bloodstone by the horn. Her right hand containing lightning struck itself into Bloodstone's solar plexus, shocking and electrocuting her physical form with flashing lights, screams of the devil echoed in the tombs. The hotheaded Gem punctured Bloodstone's stomach, lightning striking out the back of her spine. She let go, her pale red arm covered in white blood.

Bloodstone coughed blood, holding her wound. Lightning rattled on permanently inside her, having no conductive material to go to. It was stuck, trapped in Bloodstone's body, frying her system.

Ruby shook her head. "You're not that tough, Bloodstone."

Bloodstone grunted, "You're not gonna beat me..."

"Are you _that_ conceited that you can't see you're already beat?" Ruby growled. Her opponent was kneeling over, practically bowing to her. She was impaled by her claws and still stood, Bloodstone was just punched with lightning and was already down.

The dark Gem got on one knee, "I am _not_ beat."

"I've surpassed you long ago. You created me, I'm your successor." Ruby replied, completely calm now that she saw the picture. She was winning, easily, even while Bloodstone had the power of a number of Gems, but she wasn't using it right. "You know what? You were wrong. About what you told me about my "demons"."

"You're talking nonsense—"

"There is a way to stop this burning rage." Ruby solemnly admitted, "Her name is Sapphire."

* * *

 **A/N: GRAVITY FALLS ENDED.**

 **AND BY EXTENSION, _I_ HAVE ENDED.**

 **And for the people asking for Garnet since she vanished completely from the story, have some admittance of ship fuel instead. And some gore and some really scary fighting. I mean, what is going on with me? Ripping people's arms off, tearing someone's Gem off by ripping it out from their throat, breaking legs and ribs. So much brutality.** **Next thing ya know, I'm gonna shoot Steven's leg.**

Amethyst and Sapphire: "We weren't here. At all."

 **Yep, and you will probably never come back.**

Lapis: "I was just left on the moon. No continuation on that part? Did I eat her or nah?"

 **No.**

Peridot: "What's up with the brutality?"

 **I don't understand. I have boundaries I'm not supposed to touch. I guess I'm just abusing the tip of the power I have.**

 **Well, that's all the questions I can answer! Goodbye, thank you for your time, and you'll see me again in the near future.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: Gem stands for the Gems. Assassin stands for the human fighters (Zack, Greg). Magicians stand for Adam Quantiny and Aquamarine. End stands for Grimm Reaper or Death. ((Originally, Gem is Emerald, Assassin is Zack, Magician is Adam, End is Grimm.))**

 **Next Chapter Title: "Piece Of My Time"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **HPHUDOG KDV KLV RZQ SHUVRQDO JDLQ."**


	32. Chapter 30: Piece Of My Time

**Chapter 30: _Piece Of My Time_**

* * *

Steven noticed how Spinel and Kyanite were focusing on each other, and how easily it would be for him to run and find Connie. He hoped he wasn't too late, or that the Gem had already taken her to a far off land.

He snuck behind Kyanite and proceeded to flee from battle to find Connie.

Except, Spinel had no intention of breaking his declaration. He wanted to fight Steven, not Kyanite, so when the demigem went to run from the corner of his eyes, he did the one thing he could think of at the time to incapacitate him.

In a flick of a wrist, he sent a spike through his leg.

"GAHHH!" the boy screamed at a high pitch you wouldn't even believe. He grasped his leg, which now had a red spike imbedded in it. He was starting to bleed a bit, alarms in his head kept ringing about the pain.

"Son of Rose!" Kyanite yelled after, rushing over him to inspect the damage. She huddled over him, but didn't know what to do. What was Steven? Human or Gem? If he was a Gem, he could regenerate from this. If he was a human, he could _die_ from this. But what about a demigem? Nobody in the _Universe_ knew!

In a panic, she held the end of the projectile that had pierced through both sides of his leg. Steven winced at the touch, the vibration from her fingers to the spike in his leg caused him to tremble.

"Eeurrghhhh..." Steven groaned, his leg flaring pulsing signals of agony. Tears struggled to leave his eyes. "I can't... I _can't_!"

"Son of Rose! You're gonna be fine! You can live _through_ this!" Kyanite exclaimed, fingers shaking in apprehension.

It was strange hearing reassuring boasts from an almost mute Gem. But it was a welcome to his nerves, he was almost tricked into thinking he wasn't bleeding out in the middle of nowhere. And hearing someone call him "son of Rose" definitely helped his spirits and confidence.

"I... I have an idea!" Steven yelled, pushing the pain through his voice. "But-But you'll have to stay with me on this! Okay?!"

"Okay!" she answered.

He eased his breathing, and then finally ordered her to do something in a brave voice. "Pull out the spike."

Kyanite looked at him like he was crazy. She was aware that she didn't know much about humans, but she had common sense. This was insane! And even more insanely painful! She didn't even know if she could let him go through with it, but she already promised to stay on the idea. The amount of pain and suffering he would have to endure, she didn't want that to happen to the son of Rose.

Sure, Kyanite was crazy and almost killed him and his friend that one time, but she got better. She learned from her mistake. A bit. Kyanite... was still a loose cannon. But she knew from rationalizing that a son of Rose wouldn't be evil, and he was a human child, he's almost all naive. She was sure to trust him.

Steven spat on his hands and on his leg.

Kyanite didn't know if this was a human ritual, or just something else, but she was disgusted either way. She looked at him worriedly, not even sure if this was the way to go. Was it? Nevertheless, he followed his orders and held the spike firmly. She took a couple of deep breaths, hoping it wouldn't hurt him as much as it should, and started to pull.

At first, it was slow, but she pulled it out quickly in the end. Steven screamed in agony, tears spilling over his shirt, as he quickly covered his magical, healing saliva-filled palms over the wounds.

* * *

Ruby stared at Bloodstone, who was struggling to keep herself up. The monster tried to stand, but volts of energy keep striking her insides, crackling in her veins. She didn't have any actual blood vessels, but the lightning dug deep and made her new ones.

It was painful.

The burning feeling tearing up her insides. She felt like she was going to implode.

Ruby watched her suffering with no regret. Her dark eyes were snuffed of rage. Watching her former teacher suffer made her realize her life. What had happened for Ruby to get here. All the lives she had killed. The innocent ones. These were not questions.

Bloodstone managed to sputter out, "Are you just going to watch me... die?"

She continued with a laugh.

"I _WILL NOT_ DIE!" Bloodstone shouted, a sharp, snake-like accent creeping into her tone. Her voice scratchy with pain. "I will _keep_ coming _BACK_!"

"No..." Ruby shook her head. "Not this time."

Bloodstone threw her head back, cackling. "Do you know how I came back after being shattered into dust? My resoluteness! My _determination_! It kept STRONG. AND I CAME BACK!"

"Weaker than ever." Ruby added.

" _THAT_ is NOT the _POINT_! I will ALWAYS RETURN!" Bloodstone screamed, standing on her two feet. "I WILL _KILL_ YOU. EVEN IF IT MEANS DOING _EVERYTHING_ IN MY POWER... CHEAT, LIE, BARGAIN—ANYTHING! I WILL GET MY HANDS ON YOU, ONE DAY..." Her glare darkened and her sharp teeth shaped into a smile. "... _I_... _WILL_ BE THE _ONE_ TO ERADICATE YOUR REMAINS."

Ruby's eye twitched. Just watching her was pitiful.

" _I AM_ THE _ONE_ _THING_ YOU _CANNOT STOP_!" Bloodstone snarled.

"Oh yeah? What about now?" Ruby stepped in front of her.

The dark, monstrous Gem growled.

"Come on." The red Gem opened herself to any attack. She was defenseless, easily able to be punched in the face. She took a step back, leaving Bloodstone some space. "Take your shot."

"RRAAAHHHH!" Bloodstone lashed out. The lightning in her body started to tear through her physical form, creating white cracks in her skin. Ruby's eyes widened in concern, watching as her former mentor charged at her. Bloodstone tackled the Gem by the waist and slammed her into the ground. Pieces of her black and red skin were ripped off, lightning crackling with popping sounds. Still, Bloodstone started to swing her right fist into Ruby's head, multiple times.

Ruby watched, her nose bloody and eye bruised. The pain she was enduring wasn't anything compared to what Bloodstone was feeling, and she knew that. Being slowly disintegrated by lightning would be horribly agonizing. White light peered through the major holes in Bloodstone's skin, and with each strike she gave, the more she ruptured her insides.

"YOU WANTED ME TO TAKE MY SHOT!" Bloodstone roared, the place starting to become a bloody mess. "I TOLD YOU. I WILL BE THE ONE TO KILL YOU!"

Ruby caught Bloodstone's fist pityingly. She glared at Bloodstone, who was slowly losing her own body. Electricity started to spazz out, losing its former intensity, but still made giant dents in Bloodstone. Her skin had giant cracks in it, almost about to burst with light.

"And I thought I had anger issues..." Ruby muttered, wiping her face with the back of her hand. A giant smudge of blood was lost on her face. "...you're actually losing yourself... pretty badly..."

"I've endured worse." Bloodstone replied.

"I know."

Ruby pushed her off, and the monstrous Gem's physical form broke apart, falling into pieces that couldn't hold itself. Electricity went around, sizzling over the corpse of a Gem. Bloodstone's pieces vaporized into the air, leaving nothing but her Gemstone.

Ruby stared at the smooth black gem, before picking it up.

She created a gauntlet, and crushed the Gem in her hand, already knowing that Bloodstone had survived this. She didn't care anymore.

* * *

 **Location: The Revolution**

* * *

The speed demon didn't have a name anymore. Just a memory. His name is just a sound people make to call him. It is not real.

The veins of lava on Hematite's skin flared. But the second his intentions turned to action, the speed demon grappled him by the throat and displayed his feat of strength once again, heaving him up by one hand.

"You... _cannot_... beat me." Emerald, the speed demon, informed. "I am a _force_ of nature. I _cannot_ be defeated. I am _unstoppable_."

"You have a weakness. A limit. We all do." Hematite replied.

The speed demon's grip crushed his neck and threw him against the wall.

"I came here... to alarm you... to _warn_ you... that _I_ am _still_ here." the speed demon growled. "And everyone will remember... my debut... like a nightmare. I will _not_ be forgotten. Hematite, I... will destroy _anyone_ who gets in my way. _Heed_ my warning."

He stepped back and stomped on Hematite's leg, crushing it. The speed demon left him there, crippled.

Hematite groaned, "What had happened to Emerald to twist him into..." his eyes glazed over the empty room, "... _this_?"

* * *

Howlite blasted the magic barrier with her own energy. White beams of light shot out of her hands and weakened the exterior of the shield. Adam waved his staff and distorted the beam of light, reflecting it off different points and directing it back at Howlite. The silver Gem caught her energy blast with two hands, absorbing it back into her system.

Unbeknownst to Adam, Pyrite aimed a fist at his barrier and rocketed a punch into it, shattering his defenses.

"Careful, Adam. I have a _mean_ punch." Pyrite stated.

Adam rubbed his head. "Yeah. I felt that."

The magician raised his staff and made it glow golden. He waved it at Pyrite, who stood her ground and expected something to come from it. She was right, as a volley of fire was blown out of the staff. Howlite came in from behind, flying overhead before diving at him. Adam's eyes glowed blue as he muttered something, then Howlite slowed.

Adam quickened, using magic to slow time around him. The magician batted Howlite's face with his staff, knocking her into the ground. As she tried to regain herself, Pyrite jumped into the fray and started giving out a combination of punches and kicks; fast blows that had an unnatural power that was built up in them. Adam tried to block them, but was ultimately punched kicked to the ground.

Adam's time curse faded out, when Howlite rolled back to a frontal position and charged at the magician.

"TAS!" Adam shouted, binding Howlite in pink ropes. The silver Gem yelped in bewildered surprise, rapidly rolling around yet again like a pink mummy. Pyrite had built up power during the time, and snuck behind Adam, who turned and shouted, "HA-WI!"

A giant, blue, glowing fist rammed into Pyrite's side, messing up her charge and forcing her body to flail around. Pyrite slammed into the floor, rolling over and sticking her tongue out like she was dead.

Adam turned to Howlite, who was halfway through with untangling herself in the pink binds. She noticed his glance and blasted his eyes with an energy bullet, which slowed down as Adam's eyes glowed blue again, activating the time curse. Howlite continued to struggle against the pink binds.

"What is this made of?" she asked perplexedly. There wasn't a material she knew that was this silky but hard as Diarön at the same time.

"The worst class in fighting history." Adam retorted.

"Oh, haha." Howlite rolled her eyes.

Pyrite got up, clutching her side. She glanced at Howlite, sticking her tongue out at her because she already had it sticking out, then took this time to charge her power. Howlite hopped back up, her legs and arm tangled, but she still had a limb free. It was better than none.

Adam's staff glowed golden again, and it spewed fire again. Howlite noticed the warnings it made and knew which was which, which was why she automatically flew into the air to dodge the flames. Adam's staff glowed black and the ground shook. Howlite then noticed that not only was the ground vibrating, but the ceiling too. She only had time to look up before getting overwhelmed by a thick wall. There was no second floor, so it was just a ceiling.

Howlite dropped to the ground with the ceiling cracking over her. Adam took this as victory and looked for Pyrite, who ran to him and leaped, kicking her leg out.

Adam's eyes widened, unprepared.

Time seemed to slow down, in a metaphorical way, as Pyrite's boot struck his head.

BLAMMM!

Adam crashed through the walls of the Revolution base, rolling himself into a warm-colored room. Colors of red, yellow and orange were painted on the walls, while a chimney and an armchair were visible to him. Immediately, Adam stood up in fear. He knew this place. This wasn't supposed to be in the Revolution's base! This was familiar to him. Artifacts of magic lined on the walls, and hung on those same walls, photos of old people and newspapers were framed.

 _Oh no... no no no._ Adam thought. _This place... This place! Not this place!_

Pyrite blinked as she got into the cozy room. "Wow! This place is warm. I didn't know the base had this!"

Shortly afterwards, there was a crack of a wall. Groggily, Howlite followed into the room. Immediately, she knew something was wrong, in contradiction to Pyrite. She knew this wasn't ordinary magic. Something was very _wrong_. This was advanced magic, the kind that would alter reality in ways worse than how Adam did so. And it was annoying.

"No. This isn't..." she said quickly, trying to explain to Pyrite. "This is magic! Higher-tier magic! Reality-warping—"

"Heyyy, bro!" a new voice greeted. A man dressed in a trenchcoat and scarf entered the room opposite to the hole. He regarded Adam the Magician with high familiarity. "How's it going? Are those your friends?" the man pointed at the Gems.

Breathlessly, Adam cried, " _Matt_!", which was the name of his brother. Adam fidgeted, eyes wide and frightened. "N-no."

"Well, what are they doing in my house?" he asked, before his smile faded at the Gems. "Bugger off."

Pyrite grinned at the word _Bugger_ , while Howlite narrowed her eyes. Even if he was a reality-warping magician, nobody orders Howlite to just _bugger off_.

The silver Gem was about to blast his face off, before the gravity shifted. The two Gems tumbled backwards to the hole, all the while Matt and Adam were still standing on the floor like they didn't feel the shift or got disoriented. Pyrite held her ground for a second, using her power and strength to keep herself intact, while Howlite took off into the air and was in flight, using her energy projection to boost herself in the increasing gravity.

Gravity didn't affect Gems, but magic did.

Matt Quantiny glared at the two Gems, the gravity rapidly rising.

Pyrite was thrown off the room, falling into the hole and landing in the Revolution base with no familiarity with the gravity, so she stumbled and fell. Howlite weakly raised her hand, reaching out to the magicians, but Matt had none of it, and pushed her off with double the force.

Instantly, Howlite was flung out of the cozy room, and into the Revolution. She watched as the wall recollected itself, generating matter out of nothing and closing off the breach.

Howlite somersaulted, losing her former momentum, and landed on the tips of her feet. Pyrite was still wonky with the gravity.

Moonstone gloomily brushed his beard. Howlite looked to him for advice. He shook his head, saying, "I've had enough magic from Aquamarine for a lifetime. I don't want to deal with it anymore."

Then the old Gem turned and walked away, leaving Howlite and Pyrite alone in the entrance of the base.

* * *

Zack looked at his father with hate. Disgust. Loathe. Resentment. Bitterness.

"All these years. All _my life_. I've just been a pet project to you." he chuckled, shaking his head. "And you couldn't just keep me dead, could you?"

Jacob had a dark look in his eyes. Regret filled his body. His frown deepened.

"You _had_ to create the one perfect being with the best biological enhancements any human could ever get, did you? You went over your head, old man. Then I died, at age eight. And you tried so hard, trying to find a way to bring me back to life. You spent eleven years, trying to bring back a dead lab rat." Zack stated, "I've gone to hell and back. What did you expect to return? Your _son_?"

"I did what I could." Jacob said, confused. "Why are you mad at me? I gave you your life back." He looked to the ground. "You mean, for five years, you've been like this?"

"I've been dead. My soul was already in the afterlife. I know _everything_. What did you think, my consciousness would come back to a child after being dead for eleven— _ELEVEN_ —years?" Zack replied sharply, his tone was full of aggression. "I'm just a project you made to see if you could create the perfect leader. I was coded "P.O.M.T.". "Piece of my time". I'm just a piece of your time?"

"I was young and reckless. I didn't think I'd be seeing you as my son, but I did. And I was happy for that. And then, you _died_." Jacob informed, confessing only because he thought Zack could handle it. And since Zack knew of his origins, it seemed like it was okay to talk like that. "All my joy, _gone_. I had to get you back. It was selfish, I know, but I couldn't let my only son go to waste like that. You were made to become better. It doesn't make sense. How I revived you. It doesn't make sense you would retain memories of you being dead when your brain hasn't changed. Your memory didn't show any sign—"

"Don't you know _anything_?! I was _dead_." Zack told him. " _Death_ taught me everything. I had eleven years to think to myself. And when you brought me back, you were reanimating my body, bringing back my soul and consciousness. My soul holds memory. My consciousness stayed in my body. Memory isn't physical. You designed my physiology, I had a flaw in my body, and that flaw created a way for you to revive me. If it were another person, they wouldn't have come back. None of those rats would've come back to life."

Jacob looked to the ground, ashamed that his... (Thirteen? Twenty-four?) ...complicated-aged son was nothing but normal. In the eight years of his beginnings, Zack was a curious boy who wanted to be normal. Now, he was an angry man who wanted to be normal. His hidden intents were the same, but he was different.

What would killing him solve?

"Zack. Son, I... I'm sorry. For what I did." Jacob said.

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that I'm here!" Zack shouted, his voice reverberating in his helmet. "You've created a weapon, dad. Don't be surprised it's used against you."

There was loud banging against the gate of dark flames. Pearl's hits were becoming stronger. Grimm Reaper was hovering over the only exit.

"You've gotten a lot of help just to kill me." Jacob noted.

"They're here in case I don't." Zack said, "You're going to die here."

The kid quickly grabbed the commander by the collar and flipped him over the table, breaking it in half. Jacob groaned at the instant attack, not even wanting to fight back. The Revolution could replace him, and there was no way out of fighting Zack or Death itself. Even with the magician gone, he couldn't run if there was a speed demon running around the place.

BLAM! The walls shook. Pearl was trying to destroy the walls. Death wasn't affected.

Zack waited for his father to stand. The commander only realized this now and knew that the mentality of his son was to inflict as much pain as possible, not straight-up assassinating him with an easy bullet to the head.

"Why is killing me so important?" Jacob inquired, getting up.

"Because you have knowledge to resurrecting people. That can't be trusted among the living." Zack stated, whipping out his thick sword and smacking it into Jacob's arm. "I've already killed the people you've worked with. You're the last knot in the string."

"You're working for Death?" Jacob didn't understand the whole predicament. But he was getting along.

"I'm working to restore natural peace. If word like resurrection ever gets out, mortals would be unstoppable. The cycle of nature would be disrupted, and life would just be another game ruined and reset by beings of otherworldly entities." Zack explained. "I don't care about you. But the knowledge you have should be destroyed. You should be destroyed."

 _You could easily kill me..._ Jacob thought.

* * *

Pearl ordered the Revolution to try to break the barrier, but their efforts proved futile. Whatever this shield of fire was, it wasn't letting up. She also told them to get Wild Card to the medical bay, which she was sure was filled with an unconscious army.

Then, the wind whipped past her face.

An unnatural chill went up her spine. She could feel something bad, even though she hadn't seen what it was yet. There was a fuzzy and crackling energy in the hall, a feeling of static electricity filled the room. As the Revolution soldiers worked, Pearl turned, and _he_ was there.

The speed demon glared, chest heaving and eyes striking. He was a void of black with golden trails. His eyes were purely white light.

His words echoed in her mind, like it was only directed to her.

" _Pearl_... _You_... are _one_... of the most _powerful_ Gems... on this planet."

Pearl looked around and saw that none of the humans have notice what she was seeing.

"You... are a target. A block in my path."

Pearl decided that the speed demon's voice can only be heard at a frequency Pearl was tuned to. And that nobody could see him since he was moving so fast the human eye could not capture him. Pearl was a Gem, with senses most humans couldn't grasp.

"Beware..."

Then the speed demon left. Pearl felt her stomach drop from the encounter. She had no idea why, but she was threatened... and _scared_.

* * *

After a beating, Zack took pity on his father and crouched over him.

"You called me _Piece Of My Time_. Wanna know what's piece of _my_ time?" he asked. Jacob didn't respond.

Zack put the gun to his father's head and pulled the trigger.

"It is done. He is dead."

Death replied, "That I know. You will be released."

Zack walked to the gates of fire, standing defiantly as Death faded away.

They were waiting for him.

They all shot him through the spine.

* * *

 **Location: The Desert**

* * *

Steven leaned on Kyanite for support, hobbling around in the desert. His skin had regenerated, but his muscle tissue and insides were a little... missing. Spinel had fled from the scene when he attacked Steven, opting to run away with Amber's influence empowering him. They were confused about it, but they decided he just couldn't live up to his oath. Kyanite lost any warrior respect she had for him. Steven just thought it was better this way in his life.

"Your friend, Connie, the one you're trying to look for? Was she the same girl that blasted lightning at me?" Kyanite asked, carrying Steven's arm over her neck. She held his weight easily, since humans to her practically weigh nothing at her prime.

"Yes..." the demigem answered guiltily.

"It's... _okay_..." Kyanite's grip tightened. "I'm just a little..." Visions of Connie shooting lightning at her went through her mind. "... _traumatic_. Yes. Let's say _traumatic_ from the experience."

"I'm sorry for what she did." Steven added, "If you're still mad at her, I understand. But I need to find her. She's... She's just human."

Kyanite nodded. "I feel... _envious_ around her."

" _Envious_? Like, _jealous_?" This aroused his curiosity. What would someone like her be jealous of Connie about? She's a Gem while Connie's a human. He didn't understand what to be "envious" of. So, he asked, "What about?"

She blushed. "I... just... son of Rose..."

"Steven." he replied, "Just call me Steven. Nothing wrong about calling me "son of Rose", but I like my friends to call me Steven."

Her eyes lit up. "We're... friends?"

"You saved my life. You're helping me try to find my bestie." Steven smiled, "So, yeah, I count that as friend material."

Continuing from her last statement, Kyanite explained. "I feel envious about how a human like her got to stay around you... Is she like your Pearl?"

"I don't understand."

"Do you know who Pearl is?"

"I..." Steven remembered how Pearl cracked Lapis' gemstone the first time they met. "...only knew her from... battles. To save the world. She's still around, but... she's not working with us."

"Pearl follows Rose, your _mother_ , around. Much like how Connie follows you around. They feel they need to serve and protect you. They are your second in command. They think you're the most important thing to them." Kyanite informed. She was confused about how Pearl didn't work with the Crystal Gems anymore because that was inconceivable. "They would do _anything_ for you. Her position to you, I'm envious of it."

Steven took the time to relay this information. Pearl, the most shady Gem he knew, was actually his mom's most loyal follower, and probably best friend, how Kyanite described it. Pearl would've done anything for his mom. Yet, with Lapis, someone who was like a mother and sister to him, Pearl did everything in her effort to kill her. He understood now, why she was so determined to just rip her apart. Lapis told him she took him from the Crystal Gems. He was a reincarnation of his mom. Pearl just wanted to get him back. Man, their relationship was complicated.

"Steven! I found her!" Kyanite exclaimed, shaking him out of his daze.

"Huh? Where?!" The demigem stood taller, his eyes surveying the sand precisely. His dark orbs landed on the small body of a girl, lying on the floor. "CONNIE!" he shouted, ignoring the pain in his leg and ran for her instantly.

"Hey, wait!" Kyanite sheepishly called out.

Steven huddled over Connie's figure, holding her head up in his arm. "Connie. Connie! Wake up! Ca... Can you hear me?" He shook her, but she wasn't responding. "Connie! No... Please, this isn't funny!" His breathing quickened, desperation drowned his mind. She should be alive. She couldn't die just yet, she was too young! There had to be something else! Yes, she was sleeping. Just, really heavily. That's why she couldn't hear him. He just had to try harder. "Come on! Connie!"

Kyanite walked over to Steven, observing the faint body of the human. She crouched over, concerned. "Steven. Is she alright?" she asked.

She looked at the boy, who was whimpering and tearing up. His face was red with distress, holding her body up. His best friend wasn't responding to him. She felt dead, yet there was still some warmth left in her. Her face looked ghostly, soulless.

Steven plummeted into the sand. He couldn't breathe. He was so tired.

Kyanite loomed over him, shocked and distressed.

His vision blurred, black spots forming in his line of sight, the darkness fading in.

* * *

Lapis dropped back to Earth tiredly and slowly from her twisted battle on the moon.

A random Gem, Kyanite, ran up to her, sputtering things about Steven and Connie.

Exhausted, she still raced to her kids, Kyanite following her.

Then, she was met with pain, anguish and sorrow. She dropped to her knees, wreathed in misery again. She felt suffocated, like in the mirror. For eleven years now, she had tried to forget that memory. But it was still a part of her.

She wanted everything to stop. She wanted a target to _destroy_. Her rage and anger burst.

Soon, the winds howled, the sky darkened, interrupting the war with the Gems. They looked up, black and heavy clouds of doom scared them. Amethyst, Sapphire and Ruby knew there was something wrong.

Hurricanes and tornadoes and storms and rain all ripped apart the desert lands like a powerful, godlike entity hated it. The war was stopped in its feet, all hell rained down, an ocean of power tapped in an instant, overwhelming a hundred Gems with her might.

She screamed, and the whole world screamed.

* * *

 **A/N: FINALLY, the post-Amber arc has ended! Now, I... can start the next arc. Huh. Escaped one hole to fall into another.**

 **Now, the next chapters won't be as long, they'll be shorter because of the lesser amount of content. But that's okay, because you're still gonna be here. Waiting.**

 **Fun fact:** I spent the most time writing OCs. Everything else was already done while I wrote the previous chapter. I wasn't motivated to do anything with them. Writing them is like... lego. I have fun creating them, but I don't have fun playing with them. Which is why it seemed like the Zack thing is lazily done at the end. Kinda disappointed at me.

 **Fun Fact #2:** The next chapter is already done when I posted this. It was gonna be a short chapter after all. I'll update it... whenever you guys want. (And by that, I mean review. Because I'm addicted to getting reviews. Oh no! I've become power-hungry!)

 **FUN FACT #3 (And this was a fun one):** I had a chemistry class, and guess what I did? I burned " _Copper (II) Carbonate_ "! It made the fire turn a mixture of green and blue colors! And you know what Copper (II) Carbonate is also called?

Malachite.

Therefore, I burned Malachite.

 **Speaking of which, there are leaks everywhere. I've seen them already, so SPOILERS PEOPLE. GEEZ, CARTOON NETWORK, GET YOUR STUFF TOGETHER.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: It was said somewhere in one of the scenes. I feel I regret calling this chapter that. Oh well, adds to the mystery about what this chapter's about.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Saving A Dying Mission"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "** **CDFN KHOSV? Also, I was in this chapter."**


	33. Chapter 31: Saving A Dying Mission

**A/N: This chapter was done before the previous chapter. So, logic dictates that it would be updated a day after the previous chapter. And here we are.**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 31: _Saving A Dying Mission_**

* * *

 _October._

Also probably known as the month of fear.

People have been distressed in the Revolution agency this past month, they hadn't noticed a full thirty days had passed. The assassination of Commander Samson was just nothing but petty personal hate from one child. A very strong, excellently trained, well developed child. The child that Commander Samson had created.

The son.

And nobody was up to fill the missing gap Commander Samson had left. But everyone knew their choice. They knew who they wanted to pick to become the commander of the Revolution.

Not Wild Card, the greatest soldier. Not Hematite, the leader of the Gem Revolution.

The knight.

Pearl, the Earth's knight, was elected upon leagues of soldiers, scientists, researchers and aliens, to become the commander of the Revolution. To _save_ the Revolution's _dying mission_.

"Commander Pearl." She contemplated at the metal wall. "Doesn't sound good."

* * *

Steven waited by the hospital bed everyday for a month, hoping Connie would wake up.

The girl was in a hospital gown, white blanket draped over her chest. She was breathing softly, snoring (in Steven's words) beautifully. She was tied to the hospital equipment in the room, which were recording her status and condition. She was fine, but she was in a _coma_. Every look he got of her made him feel guilty of not being able to save her.

Purple and green balloons were hung to the desk, with cards wishing her full recovery. Bundles of new roses and withered roses were placed over the desk. Steven sat alone in the room with Connie, while others were just standing outside, unable to look eye to eye with the child.

Outside, Lapis was begrudgingly scolded herself. If she hadn't been fooling around that time, Connie would probably not end up like this. Sure, her hands would have melted trying to save her from _Quarain_ , but it would still end up better than this. Seeing both her kids in the hospital room was the worst thing she could experience.

The demigem couldn't help Connie in this state. She wasn't injured or damaged in any way he could heal her. She was just unconscious. Sleeping. In a coma. His healing spit wouldn't do anything to wake her up. And, he had that promise to keep, even if it was a stupid one. Connie requested that he shouldn't give her his healing spit till she gave him permission. It didn't really matter, but he wished she would wake up and ask him to.

The thought struck Steven, making him blush. _Did I just wish for Connie to ask me to spit in her mouth? Jeez, in hindsight... Gross._

He kept it to himself, glancing at Connie for a while. He stared at her soft lips, feeling his plump ones. He shook it out of his head. It was never gonna happen, so why bother thinking about it? They were just friends, nothing more.

Those thoughts faded as worry kicked in again. He stared at her, waiting for her to jump out of bed and reveal to him it was just a practical joke and that she's been conscious this whole time and they would laugh it off. But there was no chance of that happening, Connie was really stuck in a comatose state, and this could stay until a period of weeks, months, years...

The Gems would maybe be patient enough to see it, but Steven wasn't. He was emotionally invested in time. He didn't know anything about himself or his physiology, because he was the first one of his race. There were no records of anything else like him, so he had to witness how he would grow himself and learn more about what he could and could not do. But he didn't like that. He could learn everything about Gems and humans, but not himself. That was just not fair.

He may be able to outlive Connie, or he may even die of old age before they even graduate from high school.

He didn't know squat about himself. Nobody knew anything about him.

In retrospect, it just made him feel vulnerable. And unpredictable. Steven leaned against the side railings of Connie's bed, his eyes fluttering till they were shut.

His mom wanted him to be more. Rose wanted him to bridge the gap between humans and Gems. To be the best of both worlds. And how would he do that? It seemed impossible now. His mom's destiny and _mission_ for him, seemed impossible. He couldn't do it.

He couldn't _save_ Connie. His _mission_ was _dying_. Should he just give up?

* * *

Lapis stood outside, facing the wall.

How she had been so _stupid_. She was the most powerful Gem on the planet, and she couldn't save her student from the gift she gave her. Amethyst gave her some info about the Gem Wand, the cursed weapon that was created by a Gem named Aquamarine. Now, that was a name engraved in her mind. She had never seen her or heard of her before. But the way Amethyst said it, even she didn't know who she was. But the older Gems, Ruby and Sapphire, they looked actually afraid as they explained to her that she was an expert magician who was keen on manipulating reality.

Magic. _Real_ magic.

She felt responsible for this. She was half-assing battles on the moon while Connie had to face an even bigger threat alone. Lapis couldn't even look at herself metaphorically, she already couldn't look at mirrors for a second before having that urge to break it open and free her poor soul from the reflection. She read that vampires don't have reflections, could she be one?

She had all the power in the world, yet she couldn't save a single child. What was this nonsense? That wasn't logical. She felt like she heard this from one of Connie's games.

Priyanka and Doug have already confronted her about this. They know she's a Gem. Lapis offered them money, but they just couldn't handle that their only child was in a coma while she was lending them money. Priyanka, a trained doctor, couldn't even do anything while her daughter was in the operating room because she was family. They resented her. Not because she was a dangerous Gem, but it was because she had put her into the situation without any supervision and claimed responsibility.

And what was Steven feeling? She couldn't tell anymore. Was he mad at her? Is he okay? Did he secretly blame her for Connie's state? Or worse, did he blame himself for Connie?

Lapis just wanted to sink an entire continent into the ocean; the Lapis Lazuli version of flipping a table over.

Everything was going downhill. She felt like everyone surrounding her life was _dying_. She couldn't _save_ them.

* * *

Ruby observed the dead, gray Gems she scavenged in the desert pyramid.

They had no life in them. No color. No power. There wasn't a chance it could regenerate back into who they were back then. Ruby stroke the gemstones of the deceased, hoping their souls could find peace again.

Sapphire stood behind Ruby, looming a shadow over her. But the red Gem didn't care if she was there. So what? She didn't have the energy to continue being mad at them. She sighed audibly, sitting in her farm and organizing the gray gemstones across the plain grass fields. Sapphire sat beside her, knowing that Ruby wouldn't fight back.

The icy, blue Gem noticed the empty gemstones Ruby had laid out and understood that she was mourning. She kept herself silent.

"I'm a killer." Ruby told her, repeating Bloodstone's words. Bloodstone was weak, absorbed many Gems for nothing, and her promise to her... oh, what was her promise to her? To _end_ her? That went _great_. Totally.

But the thing was, Bloodstone was her teacher. Someone she looked up to at one point. Then, all of a sudden, here they were, Ruby shattering Bloodstone to bits and she came back. It almost made it feel like she was immortal. It scared Ruby traumatically for the first time in many centuries. And seeing Bloodstone turn into a monster after absorbing the life out of these Gems, made her pale.

Sapphire glanced at Ruby, before returning to her view of dead Gems and the sunny view of the green valleys.

"That was my job. I kill Gems." Ruby stated, a hint of anger growing in her voice. "But when I do that... They never... do _this_. Go gray. Have their souls sucked to power a monster. Even I wouldn't want to go out that way."

"You're traumatized." she said.

Ruby glared at Sapphire.

The blue Gem shrugged, "Obviously."

Ruby stared back at the remains. "I was a killer before all the wars happened. I was tasked to hunt down "rogue" Gems and shatter them for the Diamonds. And I was good at it. I've killed innocent that didn't want to hurt me or anyone. They were just following what they thought was better for them, a new home and a better life. They slid off the radar and I took them down. They could've been part of Rose's rebellion, made us stronger and greater in numbers, at least. Hell, they could've been sitting with us right now, living peaceful lives and showing up once in a while when the need arises."

"Not everyone is perfect, Ruby." Sapphire informed, picking out a blade of grass. "There is no perfect thing. It's a matter of opinion. Like this leaf. Is it perfect?"

"No." Ruby answered, thinking the lesson ended there.

"I think it is." Sapphire confessed, twisting the single grass leaf. "It has a hue of green that makes it eye-popping and vibrant. Full of life."

"Now that you say it..." Ruby's hand hovered over hers, but she retracted it back. "No. You're just screwing with my head."

"Perspective changes things. You're reassessing your life. If you didn't kill, you'd probably never end up here. And without your help, Rose might've lost the wars and we would go back to financing Homeworld."

Ruby stared back at the laid out row of dead Gems.

"Everyone has a mission. Back on Homeworld, we were designed to do something. Here, free from Homeworld's shackles, we can just be whoever we want. But we still have our personal missions. Even doing _nothing_ is a difficult mission. Making a life is a mission. Killing yourself could be a lifelong mission too."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "What are you saying?"

Sapphire smirked, flicking the blade of grass out of her fingers.

"Don't stare too much or it'll complicate things. Just live the present, Ruby. Thinking too much isn't your strong suit."

She got up and left Ruby to herself.

...who afterwards realized their sudden conversation wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be. Then she decided to take Sapphire's advice and not think too much of it.

* * *

Amethyst was scared of water.

After what happened a month ago, she was afraid Lapis would snap at her and raise a typhoon of hell. After all, she was the catalyst for starting that war, in which Connie went into a long sleep and Steven got depressed. She, in Bloodstone's words, was responsible for what happened there. If Lapis found out, Amethyst knew the moment she attacks, she was a goner. So, she was scared of water, because of what Lapis could do with it.

It all made her go back tto why that war started anyway.

Oh yeah, she had a nightmare about Peridot. And how she was running from Homeworld, screaming her name as she poofed.

It was blurry now. The memory started to fade away. Amethyst knew she was hurt.

But it was impossible for Amethyst to know what was happening on Homeworld. Plus, she never got to see the Homeworld Gems in her dream. Or the landscape of Homeworld. Peridot was just running in a corridor, dying.

And man, how she wanted to punch something again. But she didn't want to start another battle with a nation only for someone to go into a coma and have another powerful Gem she had to be scared of. No, sirree. She didn't want any of that.

She knew it was bad, but she still did it the first time. That was a stupid idea. And the guilt was hanging with her. She didn't even confront punishment for starting it. She just got lost in the background, never to be focused on again. She liked that. Being a nobody. But she was huddled in the Crystal Temple because Gems were becoming a controversy with humans.

 _Oh, being a young leader of a squad is amazing so far. I'm practically living up to Rose Quartz's name. Hiding here. Not doing a thing. Running away from my responsibilities._ Amethyst sarcastically thought. _Totally what Rose would do._

 _Maybe I should hand the leader thing to Sapphire or Ruby... No. They'd probably say no again, like last time. Ruby said she wouldn't be able to focus, and Sapphire said that even though she could see the future and lead them, she couldn't fight well._

 _Which leaves me to save this dying mission._

* * *

With several successful missions over the course of a month, Pyrite and Howlite had been bathing in the riches of their success. Their rewards were just gaining better respect from people. For their missions, they'd dressed up as bodyguards, protected some important people, stopped terrorist attacks around the world, and then went to accidentally find some drug dealers and found info on them. All in all, their first month had been eventful compared to the other Gems.

The two Gems were reading about "how to play chess" and already had a chessboard set up in the middle of the break room.

"So... this piece could either move one space or two spaces." Pyrite hovered her finger over the first line of defense enthusiastically. "And the horses can do an _L_ shape..."

"I'm bored of this already. This is a strategy game. You won't do any good with this." Howlite cynically replied, putting down the instruction manual. "Let's go get some other board game."

"They don't have any other board game that interests me." Pyrite said, picking up the white king piece. "This one has the cool pieces with intricate designs. I mean, look! Do you see the little details on this piece?" she asked cheerily.

"It doesn't serve it's purpose of being interesting and absorbing to the game. It's supposed to kill time, is it not?" Howlite remarked dejectedly, taking the white knight piece. She held it up, "Hey, look, it's the Crystal Pearl."

"Crystal Pearl?" Pyrite inquired.

"The Pearl that was the former Crystal Gem. You know, the one that actually _does_ something around here. The one these humans call the Earth's _white knight_." Howlite leaned on the table, propping her head up with a fist. "The Pearl that doesn't stand around to look good. Rather, she's heavily relied on the Earth's defenses and respected by many here. How have we not talked about her in the past month?"

"Oh, you mean... your _idol_." Pyrite replied with a blank and confused stare.

The silver Gem placed the white knight chess piece on the table, speechless.

"You seem to know a lot about her. And respect her." Pyrite said, blissfully ignorant while she placed the pieces around the board. "You're a Howlite. And she's a... _Pearl_. And you outrank her by your "birthright" and stuff. But as of now, she's outranked you generally. And you're not mad and ignorant about it, like you always do with me. She's your teacher's best student. You talk her name highly and try to differentiate her name with the other Pearls by calling her Crystal Pearl. Therefore, I think she's your idol."

"You can be really smart and observant sometimes." Howlite remarked, toppling her black piece over with a flick of a finger, letting it slide off the board.

"Heyyy!" Pyrite yelled, easily saddened by how her masterpiece was ruined. She frowned, "I was making a smiley face!"

Howlite's dark, silver eyes glanced at the board, seeing a whole different picture. To her, it looked like a twister rearranged the pieces.

"Playing human games, huh?" an old voice called out. Moonstone walked over to them, standing with his back arched like an old grandpa. "You kids seem to be doing well."

Howlite stood up, out of respect. She nodded, "Teacher."

Pyrite stared at Moonstone intently. "I think your mustache grew since we last saw each other." she stated innocently, pointing indirectly at his white facial hair.

"Teacher, I am sorry on behalf of Pyrite. She's an idiot." Howlite added with a hint of bitterness.

"Your royal birthrights don't give you an edge over others, Howlite." Moonstone reminded. "At least, not on this planet or system."

"Oh, don't worry. We're best friends." Pyrite confirmed.

"That's because of an amusing and embarassing thing with Howlite." Moonstone replied, chuckling. "She has no other friends."

Pyrite whispered, "That was _savaaage_."

Simultaneously, Howlite remarked, "Your bluntness never escapes you, teacher."

"There you are again." Moonstone brushed his bushy mustache down his goatee. "But on the topic of my mustache, yes. It _has_ grown."

"I'm guessing you're not here without reason." Howlite said grimly.

"Yes, it appears you've caught on like you've done so in the past times. The Revolution leaders want you two to stop this "drug cartel" you mentioned about." Moonstone informed. "They seem to trust you more than the others."

"Well, that's because we're hard-working!" Pyrite guessed.

"Because of our nature and demeanor. Pyrite looks like an idiot, while I give cold stares." Howlite stated, crossing her arms. "They feel as if Pyrite won't harm them due to her naive nature, while I'm here to remind them that we're here for business. We help them, and they help us. After a while, they get to trust us after learning about our history and being used to us."

Moonstone squinted. "You sound like you're gonna stay here temporarily."

Howlite sighed.

"I fought for Homeworld. I lived and served Homeworld. Now I'm stuck here with technology that hasn't gone far enough to reach Homeworld. So, I guess... I still have an attachment to home." she admitted.

"You can't go back." Moonstone stated gravely.

"I know. Homeworld wouldn't accept a lost " _Prince"_ after five thousand years. I'm of no use to them by now. They probably replaced me." Howlite said begrudgingly. "So, if I can't help Homeworld, then the Rebellion will have to suffice."

"Staying on Earth isn't that bad. You get to do chores and stuff, but at least we get legal authority to go out and wear cool jackets and shades." Pyrite added.

"Welp, we have to go... do something about a drug cartel." Howlite stated, unfolding her arms. She walked away, heading to the mission center. "Come on, Pyrite. We'll probably get another board game that you might understand."

Pyrite followed, putting her hands on her hips like a superhero.

Moonstone watched them leave the room to do their _mission_.

* * *

Hematite watched the Gems Emerald poofed sit around in the room. Silent.

They haven't come back.

The ones that did stayed quiet about the nightmarish demon that had could kill them in an instant. They were living silently in fear. The white eyes of a dark demon peering into their minds, reminding them that there was someone out there, who could kill them whenever they wanted.

Jade the ninja-like Gem stood behind him. She had regenerated after the speed demon pulled her gemstone out of her throat, feeling sickly and tormented by the speedster. But she had noticed something wrong with her leader surrounding the speed demon.

"Sir," she said quietly. "You looked like you know the demon."

"I don't." Hematite's eyes were distant. "Not anymore."

* * *

Spinel had been harbouring a powerful Gem in his grasp for a year. He had been switching minds with Amber, which happened a month ago. He wanted to fight Steven, but after he shot his leg, Amber took over and fled the scene to make sure her plan was successful. Which meant, _without_ any setbacks.

The Onyx Gem hummed in his grip.

Spinel let it go, and the gemstone flew out of his palm and hovered in the air.

Then, it glowed white.

Finally, the former Amber's backup plan will rise.

Saving a dying mission.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, here we go again.**

 **Fun fact:** the base plan for this chapter was supposed to be all about a new antagonist. Now, it's not.

 **Fun fact #2:** I think I'm abusing the fun facts lately with not-so-fun facts.

 **Question: _Who's your favorite character?_**

* * *

 **Breaking News: It's everywhere...**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Aware"**

 **Matt Quantiny: "The writer doesn't pay me anymore. I don't have to give you any future prophecies."**


	34. Chapter 32: Aware

**Chapter 32: _Aware_**

* * *

Onyx stared at Spinel, pitch black eyes glaring at the Gem.

Reformed, she felt stronger. Her black cloak hung loosely in the wind, her hoodie pulled down on her face. Her eyes were akin to a shark's, dead and lifeless, a void of darkness. She had no other features, but a body and face that was showed space. The Universe. Mixed colors of ultramarine, violet, black and white swirled together, some spots swirling like a vortex. She was darkness with white glimmers.

Spinel felt the gravity of her aura around him, this feeling of bowing down to her. But he didn't, instead opting to stand straight and power through the heavy air on his shoulders. Onyx's dark eyes looked down at Spinel, who created a sword out of his gauntlet.

 _'You brought me back.'_ Onyx said, driving her voice into his mind. He felt dizzy with her voice echoing in his skull. _'Where am I?'_

"Earth." Spinel answered. His eyes flashed yellow with Amber.

 _'Earth, huh?'_ Onyx continued to speak telepathically. _'Well... isn't that a bummer.'_

* * *

Crystal Temple...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Amethyst stood in front of the supercomputer, reading lines of warnings. There was a strong energy signal in the desert, at least seventy miles east to it. Her jaw dropped at the insurmountable power in that region, this was a thing her fellow Crystal Gems need to know. The energy readings... They were even higher than Lapis'.

Recently, she'd been watching Gem movements and the potential outcome of catching them all in one spot. But that wasn't going too well. So they had to resort to going back to fighting them one on one. They had a few poofed Gems being bubbled in the room, which they had caught through the month. Lapis' outburst previously was really terrifying.

She quickly ran out of the Crystal Temple, hurriedly looking for Sapphire and Ruby.

* * *

The desert...

Amber's cocky smirk peered through Spinel's face. "I saw your memories. You showed me... history, tactics, knowledge, power... how to absorb other Gem energy." they explained, a hint of hesitation and confidence evident in her voice. It seemed like a twister of personalities raging for control in that body.

Onyx tilted her head for a second, before finally understanding. In that instant, she had read his or her mind.

 _'You have two minds. One is evil and the other is neutral. Saddening, quite. Best to put you out of your misery.'_ she stated, raising her palm to aim at his face. _'I could eradicate you right now.'_

"You could," Amber offered nonchalantly, slightly mixed with Spinel's reluctance. "Or you can assist me in destroying the Crystal Gems. I know your anger. You kept them protected, and what did they do? They betrayed you. You feel the need for justice. You want _revenge_." Amber had taken some of Onyx's memories with her, thus the telepathic Gem didn't know some of the details Amber took.

 _'Some things are still a blur.'_ she said. Then, she chuckled. _'But I know who my enemies are. After you, I have some business to attend to...'_

Spinel grunted in response. "You're not gonna kill me that easily."

Onyx raised her brows. _'You'd be surprised.'_

She swayed her hand and his head exploded.

* * *

A little while later...

"Did you see this coming?" Amethyst asked, walking anxiously in the desert.

Instead of Sapphire answering, Ruby replied.

"In a way, she most likely did and kept it a secret so that we wouldn't get power hungry over info. Future vision could sense bad things. Sometimes it's in detail, sometimes it's not." Ruby explained, with her knowledge of the ability. She wasn't up to meeting this incredible power Amethyst described. She just felt like being in her barn and doing nothing. After the whole Bloodstone charade, she felt like she had enough of this.

Sapphire kept herself mute, trekking on the barren wastelands.

Sooner than they thought, Onyx was in their sights, standing alone atop one of the mounds of sand. Her cape was flowing in the winds, her hoodie was thrown back to reveal the helmet of an old knight's. A silver-iron mask that truly covered the knight's face, and had those vertical holes to let the wearer see. Except, that hinged part of the mask was covering her mouth, letting her black eyes peer through and show the world what true fear looks like.

Onyx was looking to a side of the desert, so she seemed to have not notice them.

"She's standing there," Amethyst said, "Menacingly."

Ruby's shoulders slumped, preplexed. "No way... That's not possible. That isn't who I think she is, right? I thought we bubbled her. _Together_."

"Sapphire... Any efficient way we can defeat her?" Amethyst asked, leaping straight into the leader position for this serious task. She didn't want to screw up like last time.

"All I can think of... is that she knows we're here... And we can't do anything about it." Sapphire replied. "There is... one thing... But it won't work."

"Aren't we gonna say anything about how _Onyx_ is there? She was bubbled in the _Kindergarten_." Ruby added, still in the shadows about the telepathic Gem. "How did she escape our bubble? That was the strongest one we made. Excluding, the one we made recently to trap Amber's gem."

"By now, she knows we're here." Sapphire stated bluntly.

"So, we're just going to fight her like this?" Amethyst whipped out the transforming weapon, _Parry_ , that sparked green electricity throughout the blade. "Well, fine by me."

"Amethyst, do you know anything about Onyx coming back?" Ruby questioned quickly, the sand beneath her feet smoking glass.

"Nada." the purple Gem replied.

"Don't you care?" she asked.

"I asked you about Bloodstone. You didn't care as well. I don't see how Onyx is any different." she replied. "I _may_ be curious. But curiosity killed the cat. I'm not going to be that cat."

"You wouldn't want to ask Onyx." Sapphire advised. "She's gonna be the one asking us questions."

"What would she want to know? She could read our minds. We can't." Ruby retorted, while lighting up her hands to prepare their attack on Onyx.

 _'You're right, Ruby. What would I want to know?'_ Onyx asked telepathically, her voice filled with faux concern. Ruby jumped, Amethyst tried to keep focus, and Sapphire wavered. Onyx noticed. _'You're all so trigger-happy. What's wrong with meeting an old friend. Or two?'_

"Or _two_ —" Amethyst's eyes widened. "Oh my stars."

A figure stepped from the shadows of their bodies, asserting himself into the open desert.

"Obsidian?" Sapphire couldn't believe her eyes. She didn't see him in her future vision. How and what and when... he? It just wasn't possible. He died. Obsidian had his Gem turn gray, and shattered by the enemy. How did he come back? Where did he come from? When did he return?

Ruby gritted her teeth. "Oh, come on!"

She wanted to ask Onyx questions on her appearance, but now that Obsidian was around, that doubled her number of questions. Of course, it could be the same thing Bloodstone pulled off... but it couldn't be. Bloodstone was a superior Gem type. Obsidian wasn't.

Obsidian bowed. "Hello, friends."

"You're dead..." Ruby glared at the other black Gem. "You... _were_ dead."

"Why can't anything stay dead like human history?" Sapphire mused.

 _I am tired of seeing dead people._ Amethyst thought, trying to see if Onyx was hearing it.

"So, I died in battle and you bubbled my lover." Obsidian stated, just mentioning the history of their last encounter. He pocketed his hands and turned to Onyx's direction a bit. "Now that we're back... doesn't seem likely we'll band with you. And Homeworld doesn't look too good."

 _'We're thinking about destroying everything in our path.'_ Onyx informed, taking a strong step forward. _'We have the power to do so.'_

Ruby and Sapphire tensed at the mention of how aware she knew of her abilities.

Amethyst's green baton crackled with energy. There was an orange glow cutting through the middle of the blade, before it opened up and collapsed to the sides of her hand as a cross guard. What was left was a sword without a blade. Or, just a handle.

"Someone's feisty." Obsidian remarked, tilting his head to the right.

Amethyst assumed her leader position again, struggling to keep herself composed.

"I don't care about a couple of dead people wanting their revenge on me. But if you're going to destroy everything just because you can, then I'm not gonna stand cluelessly and let you do it." Amethyst declared, hoping to live up to Rose. She wasn't going to screw up today. She will not fail being a leader. Peridot wouldn't want her to fail now, would she?

ZZHAANG! Immediately after her speech, her bladeless sword sprouted a thick cylinder of white light, its point reaching six feet.

"Or better yet, _stand down_!" she continued, "And we'll resolve this peacefully. We can negotiate... and help each other. No more fighting."

"I don't think that stance would show willingness of _any_ sort of peace arrangement." Obsidian replied.

 _'You're tired. And your only choice to avoid conflict is to do something you haven't done before, which is to try and solve it peacefully. But you know, deep in your heart and memory, it's not gonna happen. Not for us, at least.'_ Onyx said, _'Admirable, for a first time leader. You could've tried this on the Rogue Nation. But all you wanted was to pick a fight, which you recklessly chose. And you chewed more than you could swallow.'_

"I don't think we're going to go for a peaceful route. Try _genocide_." Obsidian grinned, a fire burned in his eyes. His dark, complex features sharpened. "For thousands of years, you've ignored us. Trapped us. Left me to die! You're freeloaders. We didn't even get a thank you for all we've done."

"That's not true!" Ruby cut in angrily.

"Ah! I wondered when you would talk. You like to trash talk, I _remember_! Why so silent in these moments? What, was it too intense for you?" Obsidian taunted, bringing his nose high.

"We tried to save you guys." Ruby gruffly responded, "Back in the war, you cornered yourselves in the heart of the enemy. We tried to get you back. Then _you_ _died_ , and everything went to hell with Onyx. Onyx, you destroyed _everything_ within a miles radius. You went berserk. Rose tried to bring you back, but your body was failing you, your mind wasn't in the right place, and you had too much power! So, we had to bubble you..."

 _'I would never do that to you._ Any _of you. Back then.'_ Onyx replied, a fierce but broken woman trying to let them understand her view. ' _You were my_ friends _. I wouldn't cut down someone's life like a soldier. I wouldn't treat you like the enemy. You abused the power of a_ reality-warping _bubble, to trap_ me _.'_ She shook her head disapprovingly. _'I wouldn't have done that. Not even in the_ slightest _. To do something so... wrong.'_

"You were literally going to destroy the whole world we were standing on!" Ruby barked. "We couldn't have that!"

"It was the only way, Onyx. We're sorry we treated you like that, but it was _necessary_." Sapphire added desperately.

Obsidian and Onyx glanced at each other then at Sapphire.

"...Garnet not working too well?" Obsidian asked.

 _'Is she sick?'_ Onyx continued.

"Send her our regards." Obsidian saluted.

Sapphire and Ruby started to burn and freeze respectively.

"The point is, we don't need to start a fight." Amethyst stepped in. "Onyx, Obsidian... death is part of a war. It's what makes it tragic. _Our_ lives are tragic. We're Gems. A very convoluted species with an extreme history. We've had wars that lasted over thousands of years, we've lost people. We almost lost ourselves too. And Obsidian, you... don't really care about dying, do you?"

"Guilty as charged." Obsidian replied, crossing his arms and leaning against Onyx.

"But Onyx... we had to..."

 _'There's a dimension where I would not cause any damage. A dimension Kyanite showed us. You could've used that. But you put me in a bubble. The prison we used to stop Homeworld's forces from growing. Don't you see how I feel? Being treated like the enemy?'_

"Putting you in that dimension would be as _inhumane_ as putting you in a bubble." Ruby shouted. "We're all monsters of war! We're not perfect. We were frantically looking for a way to fix your mess. And as quickly as we could, we had to focus back on Homeworld because we were at the tipping point of losing. We lost you guys."

 _'Looking at this place now... You still won. You could've let me out at anytime.'_ Onyx stated.

Now, the Crystal Gems were sweating.

Onyx's cape swayed defiantly in the wind, filling the atmosphere with despair.

 _'You're all traitors. You couldn't trust me. You wouldn't even let me out in fear of "destroying the world". Which is selfish, don't you agree?'_ Onyx's pitch black eyes started to break their focus. _'You're not friends. You're the enemy.'_

Sapphire's fingers twitched. Amethyst moved her laser sword front. Ruby's gemstone started heating up to the point it was glowing.

 _'And you know what we do with enemies.'_ Onyx's thoughts had a hint of regret.

Sapphire stepped forward, shaking her head. "Onyx, Obsidian, _no_. Don't _do_ this." she warned, her voice desperate.

"Or what?" Obsidian inquired, a bit hesitant. "You can't stop us. You _know_ that."

Amethyst's breathing quickened. "Don't."

"It's too late." Obsidian stepped forward, sizing up the Crystal Gems. "No more begging. No more pleading. No more bargaining."

"HRAAAHH!" Ruby blasted her gauntlet into Obsidian's face, shoving him several hundred feet into the air. Amethyst's charged head-first and swung _Parry_ in a wide arc, striking Onyx's helmet. SWISHH!

The air around Onyx darkened, encompassing Amethyst in her darkness with her. The purple Gem stopped in that point in space, the laser blade almost touching Onyx. The telepathic Gem waved her hand out and attacked Amethyst mentally, letting her stumble back as her mind imploded with several high-pitched frequency noises. Amethyst fell back, covering her head.

"AAAHHH! MAKE IT STOP!" the leader of the Crystal Gems cried.

Sapphire jumped in and knocked Onyx back with her bronze-knuckled fist. Onyx slid back a few feet, but did not fall. Onyx redirected her focus on Sapphire, who was starting to feel dizzy and hazy. Amethyst recovered from her brain attack, grabbed her laser sword, and aimed it at Onyx. _Parry_ shot its laser blade as a bolt of lightning, striking Onyx in the side and sending her into the sand.

Amethyst whipped out the bladeless sword again, letting another blade of light grow from it. BZZHING! Amethyst pulled out her whip from her gem and lashed it out in the air, making a cracking noise.

Onyx returned from being struck by lightning, and stood on one knee. She waved her hand and both Crystal Gems got paralyzed by her mental attacks.

Obsidian slammed into the sand, instantly getting up as Ruby landed and stomped the ground in front of him. The telekinetic Gem rolled away as Ruby tried to hit him with her kicks. She spun, letting her other leg strike Obsidian upside the face before he knew it. He was knocked into the sand, his elbows sinking into it.

Ruby was about to punch him in the face, before she stopped.

Obsidian brought up a hand and raised it a little higher, which Ruby did. The red Gem looked like she was flying. He raised his fingers and Ruby floated upward, still stuck in a punching stance. Obsidian slammed his arm down, and Ruby was thrown into the deepest pits of the desert.

He picked his hand back up, expecting her to be within his grasp, but she was gone.

Suddenly, from behind, glass shards flew into the air. Obsidian turned to fling Ruby back, but she struck first, landing a hard knee into his side. She knocked the wind right out of him, sending him crashing through the desert plains like a tumbleweed. Obsidian regained his composure and flipped up straight, but once he saw Ruby's plan, he decided it was best to keep moving.

Because Ruby's gauntlet hand was glowing white, crackling with energy. The energy was concentrated into a single spot, superheating the air around it, turning into plasma. Temperature began to rise as high as the surface of the sun, really smoking the snad around her.

"A thousand years could _really_ make a difference!" Ruby remarked, as she threw a _real_ , concentrated bolt of red lightning at Obsidian.

BRA-KOOOMM! It was a straight beeline for Obsidian, since no other conductor was present for the lightning to redirect itself to.

"I can do this." Obsidian told himself, reassuringly.

He took a step to the side and focused his dark aura at the plasma bolt, letting it fly right at him, before he curved it so it would go around him and wherever he wants to direct it at. He spun a full circle, shooting the lightning bolt back at Ruby.

The hotheaded Gem had a fated look on her face. She leaped away to avoid her own attack, which exploded upon impact on the sand. The blast caught her and showered her with the force of a train, ramming her backwards. It forced her to flip in the air, before striking an invisible barrier. Well, it looked like it.

What really happened was that Obsidian grabbed her with his telekinetic ability in mid-air, stopping her from moving. But all that wasted momentum suddenly struck her, like someone landing a fifty-feet fall flat on their body.

Obsidian grunted, throwing her back into the ground. Ruby slammed against the grainy sand, her head thumping against the hard floor.

He pulled her back towards him, which was done pretty easily, and looked back at Onyx, who was standing victoriously among her two opponents.

"Are you doing fine there?" he called out, as he threw Ruby over with the Crystal Gems, letting her slide between them and end up creating a shallow sand tunnel.

Onyx finally stopped frying their minds and responded. _'Yep,'_ she watched their bodies mercifully hit the ground, _'Everything's going dandily.'_

"That's not a word."

 _'Fine.'_

Amethyst groaned, her head throbbing. She gripped her hair and yanked it, hoping to distract herself with another pain. It wasn't enough, as she felt her eyes painfully wide open and her jaw went slack. She dropped to the ground, already tired, and looked over at Sapphire, who wasn't faring as well. Her sights went on Ruby, who was pretty battered with a probably disfigured skeletal strucutre.

 _New plan._ The purple Gem thought, trying to rise up on her forearms. _Think think think._

"There's one thing left... And we're desperate, aren't we?" Sapphire muttered, quietly enough for Amethyst to hear as they were practically next to each other. "... _fusion_."

Amethyst grunted.

The leader of the Crystal Gems instantly tugged Sapphire by the shoulder sleeve, and with the last of her energy, tossed themselves over to Ruby.

* * *

The Revolution...

Pearl twiddled with a pen in her fingers.

She felt uncomfortable sitting in Commander Samson's seat. She wasn't doing any work, but she was just sitting alone in the room, getting a feel to the atmosphere and emotion. It was dark and gloomy. Miserable. It had an eerie feeling of death to it. Mainly because the Grimm Reaper himself visited and created a barrier of magical black fire.

And that the Commander literally died here.

The rest of the Revolution leaders working under Jacob tried to work together to find a way to go through with their loss. They couldn't fit anyone perfect enough for the job than Pearl, but she knew better. She wasn't fit for the job. She wasn't made for this. She had already been threatened about being powerful. But she had to try.

The doors opened, and Wild Card hobbled in with crutches, since his legs were still broken.

"How are you doing?" he asked, wondering about Pearl's mindset.

"Fine." Pearl said miserably. Between losing their leader and being threatened by an unknown assailant, she was bummed. She recomposed herself and sat upright in the leather chair. "How about you? Your legs are broken, and your pride. Getting beaten by a thirteen year-old must've been a blow."

"He was technically a biologically enhanced twenty-four year-old man." Wild Card corrected, protecting his pride.

"Keep telling yourself that." Pearl replied snidely.

Greg smirked, chuckling to himself. His frown returned a moment afterwards.

"That's a heavy weight on your shoulders." he remarked, referring to the Commander's position, which she was sitting in. He knew many people would want her to be a commander, but he also knew that she didn't like playing the leader. She never thought she could prove being a person who would give the biggest of orders, she was more than likely doing them.

Pearl sighed, "Yeah. It is. Power is... _so_ enticing."

"You're afraid you'll become borderline insane with this leadership and control the world?" Greg said, "You're forgetting we're the good guys. If you're starting to go bad, we'll notice, we'll throw ya out." he joked, jabbing a thumb behind him.

"I want to... so _badly_... just use this power to my personal gain. To destroy my enemies." After a moment, Pearl stood from the seat, disgusted with herself. How could she even think about that at a time like this? That was _selfish_. "I can't do this. I'm not qualified."

Greg shrugged. "We could work without a leader for a few more days."

Pearl narrowed her eyes at the human's sarcasm.

* * *

Lapis said she could adapt to anything.

She was wrong.

Lapis Lazuli stood miserably in the middle of the hospital halls, tipping her hat down, with sunglasses that helped her avoid eye contact with people. She had a phone to her ear, discussing about the state and condition about the drug cartel. Half the place was being raided by two abnormal figures, gold and silver.

Lapis didn't really care about it anyways.

After the call, she crushed the burner phone in her hands with regressed anger. Stretching her arms, she decided to go become Neptune again and get rid of the two Gems. She started walking to the end of the halls, glancing back at the door where Steven and Connie were staying, before focusing on leaving.

Her eyes were glued to the floor, her steps sounded like they were trying to be quiet, which of course, were not quiet.

Then, the wind blew out her hat and sunglasses. That was some strong wind.

Unnaturally, a chill went up her spine. Her nonexistent heart raced like it knew fear by the corner. She slowly walked to a stop, feeling a crackling and fuzzy energy in the hall. She felt like static electricity filled the air of the room. She gradually turned her head to peek at what's at the opposite end of the hall, and _he_ stood there.

A demon of speed, glaring at her with a heaving chest, stretching the fabric around, and striking white eyes that really pop out of the mask.

Lapis' eyes widened.

* * *

The desert...

The fusion technically didn't happen with a dance.

It was a desperate last ditch effort. Their emotions were distraught and defeated, and this was the only way they could do it. How they would describe their dance was "synchronized sand swimming".

Their bodies turned into bright light. The three morphed and their gemstones moved to their respective places. Their physical form grew large, but not as big as it usually is. They were a few feet shorter, but they looked almost the same, except for a new belt buckle and her shredded clothes were sealed togather, giving a plain look now. Sugilite's violet skin and clothes were prominent to her features, as the fusees' combined color palette would just be a darker purple.

She adjusted her rad sunglasses with one of her four arms.

"It's good to be back!" she shouted, looking down at Onyx and Obsidian. "It's been so long since I've fused! There was a lot of drama going on, but _really_... we all have one goal: to kick your butts!"

Onyx crossed her arms and looked over at Obsidian. _'You or me?'_ she asked, deciding whether who of them would fight Sugilite.

Obsidian cracked his knuckles. "I'll do it."

 _'Hmp. Go ahead.'_ Onyx went down and sat on the sandy floor.

Obsidian summoned his dark aura and wrapped himself with it. Dark flames held him together as he telekinetically shot upwards in the sky to meet Sugilite's giant gaze.

The giant fusion Sugilite stretched all four of her limbs, grinning widely. Obsidian wasn't smiling. Fighting this fusion wasn't something to be laughing about. This was serious to him. She was powerful. He was... well, on equal footing.

CRAASSHHH! Sugilite clapped her hands, about to crush him with her amazing strength.

Obsidian was able to get away with a burst of his power. He spun around Sugilite, pushing his telekinetic abilities to the limit. His dark aura flailed wildly behind him, pushing him in the air. He landed on her shoulder, raising a fist, and slamming it down. His energy pulsed, increasing Sugilite's weight and causing her to sink in the sand, also securing her position.

Sugilite laughed, "YOU THINK THIS CAN STOP _ME_? HAHAHAHAA!"

Obsidian's eyes widened when he felt himself topple over, the skies becoming closer than he realized.

Sugilite had jumped.

The fusion twirled in the air, successfully grabbing Obsidian and crushing him in with four hands. She fell, and started to push Obsidian against the ground.

BBRRR-KRRAMMMM! A shockwave blew out a crater of sand in the desert. There were sandstorms and dust storms raging in the vicinity. Onyx stood up, alarmed, and repositioned her footing to keep herself from being thrown in the winds. Her cape fluttered wildly, threatening her balance.

Sugilite pinned Obsidian down with a hand, stretching the other one to create a light. Twin gauntlets started to form, fusing with each other, before getting strapped to a whip. Sugilite's gigantic flail was now in her grasp, a deadly weapon for collateral damage. Obsidian screwed his eyes shut, pushing away all pain from his mind. Sugilite raised her hand, pulling the wrecking ball with her.

"Wait!" Obsidian shouted, exerting his dark aura around Sugilite's hand, stopping it in its tracks. "I was wondering... what happened to Pearl and Rose?"

"Pearl left. Rose is gone." Sugilite snarled, hoping the answer would be enough closure for her to kill him in... well, not exactly _good_ , but at least in a better conscience.

Obsidian grunted, his lungs were exploding. "Thanks, for your time."

He heaved Sugilite up with his telekinetic powers, pushing her into the sky. She was wrapped in dark flames, unable to move or repel his command. Sugilite struggled to fight back, but she was getting higher and higher. The air got thinner, space got closer. Obsidian almost couldn't see her in the clear blue sky. Suddenly, his control wavered, his body failed his energy output.

Then, like the cord of an elevator snapped, Sugilite fell again.

No doubt this time the energy from her fall would devastate the whole planet.

Amethyst tried to do something. Ruby started to defuse. Sapphire tried to keep them together. Sugilite's form wavered, energy being lost as she fell through the Earth's atmosphere, about to slam into the face of the planet.

Then, with Ruby's and Sapphire's ability to fly, Sugilite was able to slow down her fall by directing Ruby's ability to generate fire through her limbs and Sapphire's ability to hover. Then, Amethyst pulled themselves together, shapeshifting their physical form to lose mass and size. Sugilite was shrinking.

Obsidian couldn't determine what was happening. It looked like Sugilite was just warping the space around her to make it look like she was growing smaller.

Then, Sugilite returned to Earth, with the same height as Garnet. She wasn't as giant as she was before, but the condensed mass (even with Amethyst's shapeshifting) was still evident. Sugilite still had the same power as her giant form's punches, and now with her smaller size, her attacks would be more concentrated. Fire burned through her limbs, her legs moving around to get their footing with the air. They slowed considerably, finally moving to a stop in the air.

Sugilite landed on the Earth, a bit exhausted.

Obsidian huffed as he stepped back, dizzy from the strain of his powers.

"That's new." he remarked.

"Urghh..." Sugilite held her head. Her voice groggy. "And it's taking its toll."

Obsidian needed a new plan. She could destroy him while he's exhausted. He needed to think this through, since Sugilite just seemed to get more powerful every second to him.

Obsidian threw a punch, which was infused with his dark aura, forcing his fist to shoot at Sugilite like a bullet. THUNK!

Sugilite's glasses cracked, her head turned a bit to roll with the punch. Obsidian took a few steps forward, leading his hand forth and slowing his momentum. He clutched his hurt hand, measly hoping that it was worth it.

"Aghh..." Obsidian waved his hand around.

"Is that all?" Sugilite asked, tilting her head left. In her head, four voices were chatting about the situation.

 _He's using physical action._ Ruby thought. _He's out of telekinetic energy._

 _We have to take this to our advantage._ Amethyst said.

 _But... it's Obsidian. He's our friend._ Sugilite thought, for some reason having a different opinion on this matter. The fusion narrowed her eyes. _We don't have to kill him._

 _I'm sorry, Sugilite. But he and Onyx need to die._ Sapphire coldly stated.

 _No, this is my body._ Sugilite replied. _I get to choose my own actions. And Onyx and Obsidian need a chance... They can be better._

 _No, Sugilite! We're all going to die!_ Amethyst gravely responded, which was unusual to Sugilite. Suddenly, the three Gems tried to pull away, to stop Sugilite's actions, but the giant fusion stayed together to complete her own personal mission.

"Obsidian." Sugilite called out. "Let's just stop. You're in no condition to fight me. You and Onyx can forget about all this. We can be a team again. Friends?" She lent him a hand.

Obsidian stared for a moment.

The thought lingered in his and Onyx's minds.

Then he pushed it away.

"Sorry, Sugilite. You should've listened to your parents. They were right." the black Gem calmly informed, "We're going to destroy you."

Sugilite was taken aback. Onyx and Obsidian were her friends too. Their fusion, Jet, was her friend. And they were going to push her back because of what her creators did. She tried to do something good. She tried not to go haywire and crush everything in sight. She tried not to immediately thirst for power and destroy, obliterate, exterminate, eradicate whatever. She tried to be, for once, a genuine person.

Now, whatever shred of mercy she had to keep herself from utterly wrecking the planet, was gone.

Amethyst, Sapphire and Ruby started to panic.

"I'll advise you to _run_." Sugilite warned him.

Obsidian just stood there like a clueless idiot.

Slowly, in her descent into rage, Sugilite growled, then screamed. Her body lit up, her physical form shifted, _growing_. She was turning back into a giant, reversing what Amethyst had done to save the world. Well, mostly because she wasn't helping her keep her condensed form anymore. They were all trying to escape.

Onyx was going to intervene, but Obsidian stood straight and told her to stay back.

"You know what they say... the bigger they are, the harder they fall." Obsidian stated, watching Sugilite grow out of control.

 _'Obsidian... you idiot.'_ Onyx remarked, crossing her arms.

The telekinetic Gem raised his arms and his dark aura was unsheathed from his Gem, wreathing Sugilite's growing form. The giant fusion grabbed her giant flail and fought through the Gem's black hold. She swung her weapon, almost crushing Obsidian with the wrecking ball by a hair's breadth.

"What the..." Sugilite was confused by how that didn't hit him.

"I control your movements, Sugilite. Your weapon, by extension." Obsidian explained, his body shaking from the strain. "You're _finished_."

"HehehahaHAHA!" Sugilite laughed. "You can control matter and physical objects. But not FIRE!"

FWASSHHHH! Immediately, a burst of fire trailed from her arms and blasted Obsidian back. His concentration wavered, allowing Sugilite to move. She stomped over his body, but right before that, he brought up a telekinetic barrier to defends himself from the fusion. The shield cracks, pieces of his dark aura faded away.

Obsidian countered by wrapping her in his aura again, stopping her from any movement. He pushes his aura out, letting Sugilite fall on her back, slamming into the ground with enough force to shatter a small city. Obsidian panted, but somehow still manages to keep up with his fatigue.

Sugilite gets back up, and waves her flail around, almost striking Obsidian again. When that attack didn't work (again), she shot fire out her hands like a spiral of flames, engulfing Obsidian in heat. As a Gem, he could endure it.

"No more!" Obsidian waves his arm in a wide arc, letting a giant gust of energy redirect the fire elsewhere. He took her weapon and with a mighty spin, he threw it a hundred miles away. That angered the giant fusion.

Sugilite roared as she charged at the black Gem.

 _We need to shoot ourselves out of Sugilite._ Sapphire ordered in her head. _Push!_

 _This is... harder than I first thought..._ Ruby replied, struggling to retreat into her Gem.

Sugilite wavered, her physical form glowing. She willed herself together, mentally pushing back her fusees.

On the outside, Obsidian was about to rip her apart telekinetically. He charged at Sugilite as well, dark flames sprouting behind him as he pulled back his fist. He threw a forceful punch, as Sugilite was gonna return with a fire-filled punch.

Suddenly, Sugilite stopped.

Obsidian hit the fusion.

But it wasn't him who stopped Sugilite. The fusion's Gems flew out of her body, instantly poofing her physical form. Amethyst, Ruby and Sapphire were gone, having used Sugilite's energy to blast them away. They went far. Far enough that Onyx knew it would be inefficient for them to hunt each of them down.

Obsidian hovered in the air, looking around. He turned and met Onyx's gaze from a hundred yards away.

 _'No need to chase them.'_ she told him.

"What's your plan?" he asked back, knowing she wouldn't have said that unless she had something better.

 _'I read their minds.'_ Onyx informed, _'I know where Pearl is.'_

* * *

 **A/N: Why Obsidian has no description is crucial to the story. You'll know why later. Or, you'll just figure it out. You guys are smart like that.**

 **Fusions are something that I've been avoiding for a time now. They're complicated beings. But, I'm going to follow the trend SU had. The appearances of Crystal Gem fusions have been in this order: Garnet, Opal, Sugilite, Alexandrite, Garnet (well, her reveal), Sardonyx. So, uh, I'm following that trend.**

 **Matt Quantiny left, and I wanted to spice up the Author's Notes section because it's like my desk space. And I decided to make a favorite character count. C'mon, I know you've all seen _Saving A Dying Mission_. Who's your favorite character?**

 **So, _Violet Thropp_ is the first one to give an answer of who their favorite characters are. I'll keep the count.**

* * *

 **Character faves:**

Lapis Lazuli: 1

Sapphire: 1

* * *

 **Breaking News: Onyx is aware now.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Revival Of The Fittest"**


	35. Chapter 33: Revival of the Fittest

**Chapter 33: _Revival Of The Fittest_**

* * *

"Lapis Lazuli... the _strongest_ Gem on the planet..." the speed demon said.

The ocean Gem noticed that nobody around her was noticing this speed demon. She concluded that this might be a mental trick directed to her by some of her enemies. The speed demon was moving around so quickly that the human eye couldn't perceive him. His voice was emitted at a frequency out of the range than what humans were accustomed to.

Lapis glared at this new foe, finally understanding what he was. Her shock turned to her usual demeanor, but she couldn't shake off that terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. The air just felt electrifying.

"What do you want?" she whispered.

"I am the unbeatable. Get in my way... and I will end you..." the speed demon warned.

Lapis shook her head and chuckled. She had enough problems going on in her life, that if she died, she imagined it would make a positive outcome to everyone's lives. "What about... no?"

The speed demon closed the gap between them in an instant, his white eyes burning through his mask. Lapis could feel the intensity of his gaze, and returned it. If looks could kill... they'd both be mercilessly and brutally killing each other.

"There's a _new_ challenger between us... Someone who could _rival_ our powers." the speed demon informed.

Lapis narrowed her eyes. "And you're telling me this... _why_?"

"Jet... is threatening the world... We will _both_... challenge her... for our reasons." he turned his head to the door of Connie's hospital room. He was phasing in and out of sight as he did, his body was almost see-through.

Lapis gave him a deathly cruel look. "You do anything to them, and I'll kill you."

"You're not my enemy... for now... You are not in my path... But Jet will... She will destroy this world... and Homeworld..." the speed demon informed, "I saw her... she explained her grand plan... She defeated the Crystal Gems... Amethyst, Ruby... _Sapphire_..." he said the last name with spite.

Lapis folded her arms, looking down. She couldn't help but take this demon's words as the truth. Jet seemed to be a problem worse than the destruction of her drug cartel. This was gonna affect the planet, which meant it would also destroy Steven and Connie's future. She could _not_ have that. Whoever this Jet person was, she was going to confront her soon.

"You're going after her?" Lapis inquired. "Because I will."

"I will come to stop her when necessary..." he told her. "Jet is targetting _Pearl_ as of now... I won't intervene... Jet will run out of energy... and I will strike..."

Lapis glanced at Connie's door.

"I'm going after her now." It felt strange, telling that to the demon that threatened her, then subsequently told her about a worse threat, and finally took her mild respect with how his priorities were listed.

"Suit... yourself..." And the speed demon vanished just like that.

Lapis lingered around for a moment, before turning on her heels and leaving the hospital. Except now, she had to find a certain someone, and give her a piece of her mind. If it was a faux from the speed demon or not, there would be another thing on her list to eliminate.

There was no way she was going to let someone destroy her kids' futures.

* * *

Obsidian floated over to his lover. "You know where Pearl is?"

 _'Yes. Poor Pearl. I read their minds and saw her transformation. She left the Crystal Gems to become the humans' lap dog.'_ Onyx told him. _'Such is fate.'_

"Hmm. So, you know where she is?" Obsidian raised a brow, not getting it.

 _'She works at this human organization called the Revolution.'_ Onyx stated. _'She frequents there now.'_

Obsidian shook his head. "Pearl... You're better than this. Why work with the humans?" He draped his arm over Onyx's shoulders, a bit winded. "What happened to Rose?"

 _'She had a child.'_

"A... child."

 _'With a human.'_

"A... human?"

 _'It's very much like Rose to do something like that.'_

"Even though it's stupid." Obsidian remarked, "Why have a human child? But more importantly, where is she?"

 _'She gave up her physical form to give birth to... Steven.'_ Onyx answered gravely. _'He's... wonderful.'_

Obsidian frowned. "Why isn't...—Steven's a _he_ , right?—...he here?"

 _'Got kidnapped. Only after ten years did they find him back.'_

"If we were here, we could've prevented that."

 _'If only.'_

* * *

Moonstone sensed a disturbance in the air.

Immediately, he went into the white knight's office. It was a small one, since Pearl didn't really need an office.

"Pearl," he called. "Something's come up."

The white Gem looked at her teacher with interest. She needed something to take her mind off this commander status. She didn't want to deal with leading an entire army of humans to revolutionize the world. With all she knew, Rose would've been a better candidate for this.

"What is it?" Pearl inquired.

"I sense a rise in Gem energy in the air." Moonstone answered gravely. "It's not good. It's powerful." He closed his eyes, searching in his mind of the senses he felt. "Coming closer. I can feel... this... _anger_... disappointment, vengeance... emanating from it."

"Someone has a grudge against someone in this facility." Pearl thought back to last month, when that speedster threatened her. She could feel his power then. It might be him. He talked about power and having an intention to be the most powerful, and _she_ , Pearl, was almost going to be handed utmost power in the world by becoming Commander. Maybe it's actually him. Ready to kill her for being in his path? She sighed, "Someone has a grudge against _me_."

"You know who it is?" Moonstone questioned in a concerned tone.

"I have an idea. I know it's Gem energy you're sensing. Since, you told me." Pearl went over to her drawer and picked out a yellow syringe. She raised it to her eyes, contemplating at the effects this could have against Gems. It was a prototype Gem destabilizer, a formula worked on to defeat her species easily. "Looks like I'm about to test whether the serum works or not."

"Pearl. This is a very powerful weapon against Gems. Use it wisely. Don't get yourself caught in it either. It affects you too." Moonstone told her. He pretty much knew he was saying bullshit, because he was only told of what it could do by the white Gem that was standing right in front of him.

Pearl chuckled. "I made the serum, remember? Of course I know. You don't have to tell me that."

"Just reminding you." he retorted, shrugging his shoulders.

Pearl clenched the syringe in her hands, the algorithm equivalent to poison to Gems was in her palm. This was either bad news for her, or the opponent. The serum was made from researching the coding in Amber's Gemstone, watching what made her tick, and what made all Gems tick. Amber's ability to corrupt Gems helped speed the process up too, since it was like a passive Gem disease. It was deadly to Gems. It was deadly to humans too, but it affected Gems more because it directly tampered with their coding.

Pearl looked at her teacher, who frowned at her. She knew why. She was developing technology and helping research Gem weaknesses. It was a cause that needed supervision.

Moonstone was doing that just fine, making sure she didn't go over the boundaries. But he didn't have any take in the process of creating it, so he was worried about that.

"I hold power that can destroy entire nations." she realized as she told him.

"I know that. You'll do the right thing with that power, I suppose." Moonstone replied, glancing at the vial of yellow liquid. "Be cautious with it."

 _Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely._ She told herself. _Will I be able to control myself with this weapon? Against the whole world_ _? The Rogue Nation? Against Lapis?_

* * *

Sadie led an organized life.

She went to work at the Big Donut, stayed for an eight hour shift, close up, go back home, go to bed, sleep, wake up, go back to work.

But there was something in her that wanted to find something interesting happenning around Beach City someday. Yes, she knew about the Gems living in that old statue that was closed off from the public, and the giant bronze ship that was hovering over water next to it, but that was the norm now. It wasn't interesting now that it had become a fancy tourist trap.

Then one day, the double doors to the shop opened to reveal a strangely peculiar teenage girl. She had poofed up parted hair, and a cloak that was pointed five ways in a way that made it look like a star. Her skin was a shade of light blue.

The girl went over to the counter, looking at Sadie in an alien way.

"Can I help you?" Sadie asked, always remembering that it was polite and welcoming to smile.

The girl averted her gaze from Sadie, looking down at the choices of snacks.

She seemed focused, and confused.

Sadie followed her stare. The weird-clothed girl was concentrated on one chocolate-coated donut. A delicacy in the shop.

"Oh! Would you like the choco—"

"I'm on guard duty." the foreigner said, "Amethyst brings me food. I don't eat it though. Is this what humans eat to provide their nutrition?" she asked, looking up at Sadie.

"Oh, no. They're just little extra food that people like to eat because of its taste." Sadie responded. The alien usage of the word _humans_ put her off, but she didn't mind. The poor girl was probably just really insecure or didn't know how to talk with people. She might just think of herself different from humans because she felt she was so weird.

"That's... interesting." the girl remarked. "But it's wasting resources."

Sadie thought about that, leaning against the counter. "Well, yeah. But it's delicious! Try one! It's on the house."

She picked out the chocolate-coated donut and handed it to Kyanite.

Kyanite carefully took it, inspecting the snack for a moment.

"I can respect that humans were worth fighting for in the war. Rose said that they were living creatures that have the right to make their decisions, to feel freedom of a non-oppressive society, to have rights like us." Kyanite informed, scratching the donut. "But... sometimes... I don't feel that way. I feel humans shouldn't have this freedom. The humans turned on us the moment they realized we were powerful in the recent times. But they do not remember that five thousand years ago we protected their species from utter extinction."

Sadie was able to follow her story. She nodded at her. "Well, humans don't have that long of a life span. We die really early on, and as generations go, we're only told stories by our ancestors about what happened. Stories can go on and twist into... _stories_. And myths. Then that part of history just dwindles away. Because nobody can remember, or just don't believe in it." Sadie blinked as she finished her part. How did she do that without stuttering or missing a beat? Even she was astonished by her achievement.

Kyanite sighed. "It's sad that most of humanity thinks that we're the enemies. But I understand their side... I know how friends can turn out to be bad people. I know what it's like to be betrayed. I see why they think so badly of us. Our reputation isn't that good. We've destroyed most of Earth. Pardon my alien grammar just now, it's just... my mind's been messed up." The Gem leaned against the counter. "I felt insanity grip me before. I thought that all humans were bad and antagonized them. But there are good people, like you."

Sadie shrugged in response.

"I remember the times when the people that took care of me, what you guys call _parents_ , taught me to hate humans." Kyanite tore a piece of the donut and contemplated at it. "Now, pieces of memory come up and I just feel guilty of thinking that. My parents taught me new stuff. They learned to reconcile with humans in a few years and told me that they aren't that bad. They were just uncivilized and needed to be taught. I... did a lot of bad things while I was insane. You probably don't want to hear it. It's disturbing what I did. And to realize that I _actually_ did it. To feel it settle in. To make it a reality."

"I have a few thoughts about what you've done." Sadie responded, giving a sympathizing look. "I know how it feels to do something wrong and have that sudden pit in your stomach grow. You realize the bad you've done, your morals have been tempted and you just feel... _guilty_."

"Yeah." Kyanite spun the piece of donut in her fingers. Sadie watched.

After a while, the human grew concerned.

"Are ya gonna eat that?"

"You just put it in your mouth, chew, and swallow right?"

* * *

Pearl expected a speed demon tackle her to the ground so she could tag him with the antidote.

Her blood ran cold as ice once she saw what was coming.

She waited in the front yard of the Revolution base, a giant square space for soldiers to train in, with four watchtowers in their separate corners. When Pearl saw them, she wasn't waiting anymore. She was _dreading_.

She knew who these were. A couple of the most powerful Crystal Gems. And they spelled out trouble.

Onyx and Obsidian landed on the granite grounds, their eyes glued to the lone Knight on the battlefield. They didn't expect much, but they were disappointed that Pearl left the Crystal Gems to pursue such a useless activity. Helping the humans through human ways. It was inefficient.

Silence washed over them.

The air tensed. They could feel the upcoming battle between them. That sick feeling in their limbs helped it go limp. Something they didn't want.

Obsidian cut the silence.

"What? No greeting?" he asked. "I was expecting that you'd at least, like, wave at us for being friends while being ex-Crystal Gem members."

 _'It has been long, Pearl.'_ Onyx stated telepathically. _'I think you know why we came here.'_

"To have your revenge exacted?" Pearl asked. "I don't think you'd come to me only for salutations. You think we have a conflict. You think we're responsible for your demise."

Obsidian crossed his arms. "Probably."

 _'You don't seem surprised seeing us.'_ Onyx noticed.

"Oh yeah, forgot that I wanted to see your reaction to us being alive and such. But yeah, you don't seem shocked at all." Obsidian scratched the back of his head. "Ruby was fun to watch. She had a little bit of what I was expecting... But not enough. They kinda accepted it. You just... don't seem to care at all. Kinda unnerving."

"You've come across the Crystal Gems?" Pearl noted, in an emotionless voice.

"Pearl, you're freaking me out here. You're not surprised at all." Obsidian was miffed. "What happened to you?"

"I saw Death." she replied. "And I expected someone else."

"Doesn't that mean you should be surprised by _us_ if you're expecting someone else?" Obsidian gritted his teeth. "I feel wrongly done! You should be shocked! Baffled! Puzzled!"

Onyx looked into her mind to see what she was meaning. _'The literal personification of death. Grimm Reaper. You saw its powers. How it contained you in a barrier of black fire. You were surprised at how ethereal and impossible it was. And then you just decided that anything could happen, you lead a strange life, why wouldn't it, and other thoughts.'_

"Thanks for the privacy." Pearl retorted.

 _'You were never gonna share it anyways.'_ Onyx replied. _'You'd only want answers from us. Which I don't want to explain again.'_ She turned to her lover. _'Obby?'_

"Short story, we're gonna kill you. Then continue hunting the Crystal Gems." Obsidian thought about their conversation. "Oh wait, you probably don't care about them. Seeing how you weren't surprised at all or looked grieved when we mentioned them. All you said was if we came across them and blah blah blah."

Pearl glared at the two. She gave a sigh of relief as she saw Onyx's demeanor hadn't changed. She just thought about the serum, and the telepathic Gem didn't twitch.

"So... what? Are we going to fight?" Pearl asked.

"Who's going to start this round?" Obsidian asked with his arms folded. He turned his head to Onyx, wanting to ask who to go against Pearl. "You or me?"

 _'You fought Sugilite back then.'_ Onyx stated, then slumped her shoulders in dread. _'So I guess it's my turn.'_

Onyx took a step forward, her metal boot clanked against the pavement ground.

Pearl's vision wavered.

Onyx took another step forward, and there was a reverberating clink in Pearl's head. She started to see colors. Her view of the world changed. Literally, not metaphorically. Onyx stood defiantly, her eyes still a dark abyss waiting to catch her prey.

The white knight's eyes twitched.

Pearl balled her hands into fists, struggling to keep herself together with the explosion of color in the background. Onyx raised her hand, Pearl's muscles tensed.

BANG!

Onyx felt something sting in her neck.

She brought a hand to it, returning with a yellow dart. Onyx started to become drowsy. The black Gem turned her focus on Pearl, who regained her mind and was looking off to the side. Onyx peered over where Pearl looked and saw a man in one of the towers, who was holding a sniper and wearing a mask.

Obsidian felt his blood burn at the foul play. He swayed a hand and the entire tower violently broke apart. Metal and concrete were just ripped away like plastic and paper. He refocused back on the fight, finding a mildly surprised looking Pearl.

Pearl stared at Obsidian, who was flickering in and out of her sight, becoming tangible and intangible.

"Are you..." Pearl began, but kept quiet.

Onyx held her head.

 _'What was that?! What did you do!?'_ Onyx roared, her voice screaming in Pearl's mind. Pearl had never seen her mouth before, the knight helmet Onyx wore covered that part, but not her deep eyes.

"I... didn't do _anything_." Pearl honestly replied. She was just as shocked as her!

Onyx doubled over, the effects of the dart washing through her body. Her face and skin started glowing with yellow lines. Immediately, she read her mind in desperation.

 _'YOU LIE.'_ she cried out.

"But..."

 _'GEM DESTABILIZER. YOU MADE IT. THIS PLACE FOLLOWS YOU. THIS "GREG UNIVERSE" USED IT ON ME!'_ Onyx shouted, her hands twitching about for a lot of reasons.

 _Greg...?_ Pearl thought. _He was the one...? Oh, no._

 _'I THOUGHT YOU WERE MODEST WITH US, PEARL. YOU WERE OUR_ FRIEND _.'_

Pearl's chest heaved with heavy breaths in anger. " _Friend_? You hunted me down! You hunted the Crystal Gems down! You were going to kill me anyway!" She looked over at Obsidian who was slowly fading away, doing nothing.

 _'IT WAS GOING TO BE A VALIANT DEATH. NOW, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET THAT FROM ME.'_

Onyx lunged at Pearl, who would've dodged... if it weren't for that dark aura wrapping around her.

The dark Gem touched her gemstone.

* * *

Pearl woke up in flames.

She gasped for air in the hell-ridden vicinity. Groggily, she slowly pulled herself up, dust painting her suit and hands.

The ground was red. Flames were lit around her. The sky was tinted orange and yellow. There weren't any clouds to be seen. From her point, she could see the demolished grounds of the Revolution base. It was torn to shreds. Cracks were evident on the floor. She stood and turned, eyes widening in fear. The four towers had been crushed, the main building was... deformed. It was twisted into this distorted tear of reality. It was blinking with light, all of its rubble drenched in red.

Pearl felt sweat drip from her face.

 _No no no no no no no this can't be happening. Why is this happening? How? When? ONYX. OBSIDIAN. THEY..._

She saw evidence of their deaths flash before her eyes. She saw them die. All of them. One by one. In that moment. The screams, the prayers, the last heroic stands. All of it.

Onyx was taunting her.

Pearl turned to run from this. From guilt, depression, sadness, and anger, spite and determination.

She was going to get them for the destruction of the Revolution. Wherever they were, she will find them. She will hunt them down like they hunted her. She will avenge those good who have died in that facility. Greg, Mikey, Moonstone... Her friends, teacher, the people she cared about in there. The scientists, the soldiers, the good humans, the Gems who sought redemption. They were innocent of this charade. They didn't deserve to die like this.

She didn't care if this was what they wanted, for her to feel anguish and horror. This was just perverted. She wanted them to feel her wrath before they killed her.

Funny. She knew she was gonna die.

She felt her pocket and the serum was still there.

She gave a sigh of relief.

* * *

Pearl ran out of the proximity of its secret location, stealing a motorbike in the process.

This conflict was bigger than taking a motorbike without legal permission. This bike could explode or get dismantled for all she cared. The owner wouldn't be able to do anything against her. She was going to find Onyx and Obsidian and get them for this. Those bastards were going to _pay!_

As she raced down a highway, speeding through traffic like a blur. She noticed how everything had a red tint to them. The buildings, the sky, the ground, people, transportation... Nobody seemed to notice. She took it as Onyx still screwing with her mind.

 _Damn it._ She cursed. _I can't even... regain my senses correctly!_

She heard an explosion up front.

A large cloud of smoke began to rise from the location Pearl was coincidentally heading towards.

She went to investigate.

Pearl sped past cars, trucks and vans, moving past the heavy and crowded traffic. Suddenly, a car went over her head, crashing behind her with a resounding smash. She heard the spilling of something squishy behind her, but she continued her ride. Her eyes were determined. She was sure nobody else could cause fling that car like nothing except for them. Or the speed demon. Or Death.

Pearl caught up to the center of attention, seeing a barricade made by the police to prevent people from entering. She could see the cars beyond the roadblocks were emptied, and even further where the smoke rose from, buildings could be seen having parts of their support gone. Rubble and debris all fallen onto the road. The sky was still as clear as day, with a yellow and orange tint to it. Pearl rode her motorbike over the roadblocks and sped past police officers who were trying to restrain her.

As she neared the debris, she jumped off her motorbike and let the vehicle scrape against the ground. The momentum pushed her forward, causing her to land into the smoking rubble.

Pearl looked at the center of the damage, and found a red gemstone, glowing red-hot.

 _Ruby._

She stared up at the skies, and saw a dark figure fade away at the last second. Her fingers dug deep into her palm, she could feel it bleeding.

Pearl focused back on the gemstone, and tried to pick her up with her hands. A touch with her finger burned her. She flinched. Ruby was still hot. The metals around her were slowly melting.

Pearl left Ruby there in the crater. She'll come back. No worry.

"Pearl!"

Said Gem perked her head up, looking to the direction of the sound.

Sapphire rushed over to her, her dress was in tatters and her hair was a mess. Pearl was delighted to see her in person. She hadn't seen them in months. She'd been so caught up in the Revolution that she never got the time to see them. Well, that's what she told herself. She actually distanced herself so that her emotions wouldn't hinder her performance. Where was Amethyst?

"Sapphire..." Pearl whispered, "You're okay?"

Sapphire was taken aback by the question. Looking closely, she could see that Pearl's eyes were tinted red.

"Pearl." she said sternly. "What happened?"

The Gem shook with grief. Memories flashed before her and chills went up her spine.

"Onyx and Obsidian... They... destroyed the Revolution base." Pearl answered. Her arms went limp from the realization again. It was gone.

Everything was always torn from her.

"Sapphire..." she murmured with a hoarse voice. She dropped to her knees in front of her. "They're gone... everyone... everytime I... I'm always there... Onyx and Obsidian, Rose, _Steven_ , the Revolution, the Commander, Moonstone, Greg... And... and I still... I think... or _thought..._ I-I lost you guys as well..."

Sapphire brought her into a comforting embrace, rubbing her back soothingly.

Pearl cried on her shoulder, arms suddenly wrapping her tight. Sapphire held her breath as she felt herself being crushed in a strong bear hug.

"There... there..." Sapphire croaked, patting her hair gently. "We're still here. We're _always_ here..."

"I think... No... We won't be anymore. Jet is going to tear us apart, the Crystal Gems... Everything's always dying around me... I-I'm a bad omen. Everything I do... to protect—to save... everyone still dies." Pearl wept. "Y-You won't always be here... Ruby and Amethyst won't... We're not always going to be here... not after today..."

Sapphire saw the hard truth. Someday, everyone will die. It was inevitable.

"Pearl..." Sapphire said in a motherly tone. "We're Crystal Gems. Or _you_ _were_. But still, you are always a part of us. You're Rose's follower. You quit being one, but you know... you'll always be with us. It's inevitable. We'll be together again. So after this... can you please come back to us?"

Pearl's hug went slack. They still wanted her back to being a Crystal Gem? Even after being some kind of unlucky charm where death surrounds her, they still wanted her back?

"O-Okay..."

Sapphire chuckled.

"It's so laughable."

Pearl's eyes widened. Did that just come out of Sapphire's mouth?

Pearl retracted her arms and looked into Sapphire's eyes, only to find Amber's.

Pearl's blood ran cold. Her actions stopped dead in their tracks.

 _But... NO! YOU'RE DEAD!_

"You are _so_ embarrassing. Useless! Why would they want you back?" Amber demanded, "You've proved yourself from time to time that you're a waste of space. You couldn't save the Revolution, you couldn't save the Commander, you couldn't save yourself from turning into a corrupted Gem. You couldn't even save _Steven_."

Pearl stumbled back, as Amber came closer. No, she wasn't Amber. This had to be something else. A hologram or clone. It can't be her. Anyone but _her_.

"You wanna see what really happened to your friends?" Amber grinned at the idea. She stepped aside and showed Pearl the whole city _flattened_ , and the Crystal Gems laid dead. "Have a look."

Pearl looked around frantically. This wasn't supposed to be! This can't happen! Amber was dead, like... like... _Onyx and Obsidian_.

Her vision faded, everything around her looked deserted. The place was a battlefield. Smoke rose from the debris and rubble. Steel bars stuck out from the surviving buildings. Ruby drowned in metal, Steven twitched as he was sprawled out over a building, Sapphire had smoke fume from her dress, Amethyst was lying still.

"You were lying." Amber told her. "That time on Dexterity Castle. You came back. You explained that you weren't afraid of me." Her lips twisted into another disgusting wide grin. "You _lied._ "

"What do you want?!" Pearl scuffled back. "WHY ARE YOU HERE AGAIN?!"

"It's not _why_ I'm here that bothers you." Amber stepped closer, her arms raised like she was some stand-up comedian. "It's that I'm supposed to be _dead_ or so you call." She placed a hand over the space between her golden eyes. "Well, it's a matter of perception, Pearl. I am god. I cannot be stopped. I have power over reality itself."

Pearl shook her head.

"Well, that's right." Amber frowned, "I can't be god. I'm already a Gem. So let's just say... I'm not real. I'm just a figment of your imagination. Your darkest fears. How's that sound? _Riveting_ , doesn't it?"

"What does this have to do..." Pearl trailed away.

"Okay. I'll confess." Amber stepped back and directed at the destruction. "Onyx wanted to see what made you tick. She wanted to know your inner fears. Your darkest thoughts. Of course, not all of it's there. But you get the gist. Death and destruction, the fall of the Crystal Gems, the failure of your promise to Rose to protecting this world, Lapis, Steven, and _me_! Don't forget me."

Pearl was stunned. She couldn't fathom all this yet. Something wasn't letting her. She was in this cycle of shock and surprise all over again.

"Oh, I do love the sound of my voice. Should I continue? I know this is a nightmare for you. But come on, I'm not really here. This isn't really me. It's just what you think of me. And it's a pretty damn good impression too."

Pearl looked around the red-tinted sky, checking for something. Some way for her to get out of this personal limbo, perhaps?

 _Amber said Lapis, so where's... Oh stars._

Pearl's eyes were glued to the icicle dragon wings that Lapis had, flying overhead. Her face was blurred, but she swore she saw the devil. Screams pierced her mind, her dark figure speeding after her. Her shadows gloomed over the skies, drinking up her awe.

And like that, she was gone.

* * *

Pearl had been standing still for the past minute. Her eyes were completely dazed. They were distant, not registering anything in front of her.

Onyx roared in reality, which sounded blood-curdling. She never talked through her mouth. Her voice would be horrifying by the thought. Now, she was screaming as she dispelled the toxins in her physical body, her hand telekinetically pulling out the Gem poison through a slit she made through her wrist.

After an agonizing ordeal, Onyx had taken a dart's worth of poison out of her energy stream.

Now, Onyx glanced at Pearl and grunted. She raised a hand, before it suddenly froze. Looking up at it, it was encased in ice.

"I wouldn't touch her if I were you."

Behind her, Lapis stood.

* * *

 **A/N: I'M SORRY PEOPLE! I WAS SICK FOR A WEEK! IT WAS TERRIBLE!**

 **But, I'm back and I lost two weeks. Yay.**

 **Anyway, a _Captain America: Civil War_ trailer dropped. I, uh, spent a lot of time looking at it.**

 **...**

 **REMEMBER TO REVIEW AND ALL THAT STUFF I LIKE REVIEWS BYe**

* * *

 **Character Faves:**

Amethyst: 1

Lapis Lazuli: 1

Sapphire: 1

* * *

 **Breaking News: It's a play on "Survival of the Fittest". Instead, replace it with revival (that sounds like survival), because of Amber. There was more of a focus on her. I just thought this was better.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Demonic Heroine"**


	36. Chapter 34: Demonic Heroine

**A/N: WOAH, it's been two weeks. uhhh. Sorry. I just realized I've wasted a chunk of my life procrastinating on this chapter. For that, I guess I'll respond publicly to some reviews.**

 **To _Violet Thropp_ : _This whole arc is supposed to be all about the creeps. You'll love it. Probably. Not guaranteed._**

 **To _KillJoyGem_ : _You shall learn the way of the middle. You'll lov_** _ **e to hate and hate to love. But please mostly just do the basic love.**_

 **I, uh, anyway! On to the story!**

 **EDIT:** **Since I'm so lazy, I put a stock image of what Lapis and Pearl looked like as the cover to show it's a new arc, like I do every time. Except, I'm late by four chapters and I haven't changed the cover in a while, and when I did, it was this photo that was just lying around. Huh. Plans are not going where I want them to.**

 **meh. This chapter is long anyways. 9.5K words to be vague. Makes up for a lot of it and I'm pretty sure people take a lot of time reading this. I mean, it's fricking huge!  
**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 34: _Demonic Heroine_**

* * *

Lapis felt herself fuming at them for some reason. She couldn't tell why she felt like she just... _hated_ them.

 _'Is that a Lapis Lazuli?'_ Onyx's voice rang in everyone's heads.

It suddenly hit her.

Lapis remembered that voice.

It was the same one she heard just after her creation. The same one that berated her uselessness. And the other Gem beside her, must be the second person she heard. Onyx and Obsidian. They were the ones who picked her out of the Kindergarten on some random planet. They were the ones who first invoked her rage and hate for Gems. They were the ones...

* * *

 _"Another Lapis Lazuli?"_

 _"Yep._ Another _worthless Gem."_

 _"Put her in the station. Someone will gladly use her as a battery."_

 _"Hmph, not like Lapis Lazulis are worth anything useful in the war. They can't summon their weapon. They're weak and fragile._ _They're just a setback."_

 _"Yes, yes, we know Obsidian."_

 _"It's just... Gems are supposed to do something. But they don't. What's their purpose?"_

 _"Who knows?"_

* * *

...They're the ones who'll _pay_.

"You _two_ _BASTARDS_!" Lapis burst into anger. "YOU! _YOU_..."

Onyx took a step back. _'Woah. Sudden.'_

"...PUT ME IN A _MIRROR_!" Lapis screamed, her water wings sharpening and turning to ice. They looked ecxactly like the time she was in space and had dragon-like and sized wings. "I SWEAR I'LL KILL _BOTH_ OF YOU!"

 _'That's a... big task.'_ Onyx remarked.

Obsidian finally moved. What he first did was take a cautious step back. "You're the Lapis Lazuli..."

Lapis glared daggers at the two of them, a burning fire sparked in her. Her breathing became ragged. Her soul felt like it yearned to tear them apart. She wanted to so badly crush their Gems under her feet. That delicious sound of their gemstones cracking would be enough to satisfy her thirst for blood. Her fingers twitched, she strained against her limbs to control herself from doing something prematurely.

"She's... _different_." Obsidian concluded solemnly. "Something's not right."

Onyx turned her head to Obby, bewildered. _'What do you mean?'_ she whispered.

"You'll see... You'll see what it's like to be frozen on _centuries' end_. Stripped away from your freedom!" Lapis' eyes went glossy for a moment. "To lose your sanity... let time slip past... to do _nothing_ for _thousands_ of YEARS! But _mirror_... reflect on everything..."

Water started forming around them out of thin air. Hydrogen and oxygen just forced together to create the liquid substance. Onyx and Obsidian backed away slowly from the bubbles of water that were rising predominantly. The water turned into wisps of gases, surrounding the two. Obsidian started coughing. Onyx looked into Lapis' mind, but saw only a deep intense blue that warped her back to reality.

Lapis swung a stream of water at them, which morphed into a chain of hard ice. Obsidian got hit, the chain wrapping around him a couple times. Onyx rushed at Lapis, but the water witch tugged the trapped Obsidian over to the telepath, smacking her down.

Lapis pulled Obsidian over, chanting "Get over here!" and formed an ice gauntlet with her other hand. She swung the gauntlet as he came over to her.

WHAMM! Obsidian rolled over in agony. His head rung. His skull shattered.

Lapis pulled him up by the collar, blood seeping everywhere. The psychotic ocean Gem growled as she flipped him over, nearly suplexing his ass into the ground.

Onyx picked herself up, held her hand out towards them, and suddenly, the two Gems were stuck in air, Lapis almost suplexing Obsidian. That wasn't right. Only Obsidian could use telekinesis, and Onyx only used telepathy. Yet, she was the one using telekinesis now...

Nonetheless, Onyx pulled Lapis closer, leaving Obsidian in mid-suplex. Lapis yelled as she felt her soul being pulled, not her body. But her soul was stored inside her body, so she was pulled anyways. It felt like being tugged on by a leash, except instead of your neck, it was the very culmination of your spiritual being.

Onyx had Lapis' throat fitted into her hand. The blue Gem gasped for air in instinct.

 _'You Lapis Lazuli are useless. Let me show you. You_ melt _in water.'_

And then Onyx threw Lapis. Away from the ground. Away from the Revolution base. She used telekinesis to further push Lapis out of their sight. In a matter of seconds, she was gone, and if Onyx was right, she was sinking into the ocean. And melting a painful death.

Onyx looked over at Obsidian, who was mainly dying from having his skull cracked.

"That Lapis Lazuli... isn't _normal_..." he choked out. "...She's not dead... yet..." he groaned, "You know... what I'm thinking..."

Onyx's eyes squinted suspiciously. _'She can't be that powerful.'_

"You... made her stronger... in the water... We must bring the fight to her."

 _'That sounds tiring.'_ she remarked.

"Don't start that... not now..." he groaned.

* * *

Lapis couldn't fight Onyx's hold as she plunged into the ocean.

She held her breath for a moment, before letting it out, almost forgetting she didn't need to. All that human stuff she had to put up with for eleven years influenced her that she needed to breathe. She forgot she didn't need to. A giant bubble of air just popped out of her mouth as she sunk deeper in the ocean, where her powers got stronger. She felt invigorated in water, those idiots just paid their ticket to hell.

Lapis was able to kick herself out of that dark hold, propelling herself in the water. She floated in the liquid, feeling as light as a feather. The pressure didn't affect her. Her body was just light with mass.

Lapis sunk slowly in the ocean, contemplating up at the beautiful lights that refracted through the depth of the ocean.

Her eyes sparkled with determination.

A few fishes swam around her, rushing away like she was just another obstacle in the way. They were unaware of the goddess that they crossed paths with. Lapis watched as schools of fish just swim around her like she didn't matter to them. Oh, how much power and control she had over their domain, they didn't know.

Lapis almost spent the next few minutes watching fish, when she was reminded of the brutality of the situation when a shark came through warm waters and massacred part of a group of marine life. Red blood were just wisps of crimson around Lapis. She didn't have red blood like most animals on Earth. She had the powerful white blood of a Gem, which was just their energy in physical form, alien to Earth's. If they ran out of the substance, they would die akin to humans.

She concentrated back on to the task at hand. Lapis willed herself out of the waters, pulling up a giant mass of the salty sea with her.

As she rose into the air over the ocean, she was covered in a humungous figurine of water, like a giant blue avatar of hers. She controlled this giant mass of a body, which stood as tall as Alexandrite would. Lapis assumed the inside of the chest of this enormous water puppet weighing over a couple of blue whales, the largest animals on the planet. Lapis could lift the entire ocean if she wanted to, but the humans probably wouldn't like that and she'd have Pearl yammer on her back. Already something she'd thought of months ago.

She heaved as masses of water crawled up her puppet's legs and toughened up the exterior of this water giant. Ice started to form on the veneer, making decorative patterns that reflect on Lapis. Blunt. Fierce. Badass. Random. Angry.

There was a kinda sixth sense going on in Lapis. Something powerful was headed her way. She could feel it in her blood.

And something powerful did.

But it wasn't Onyx or Obsidian.

It was a bigger person. However, compared to Lapis' water avatar, he was a small fry. His cape billowed in the wind, and his mask covered his face as a whole, unlike how Onyx only covered over where her mouth was supposed to be.

Jet, the fusion of Onyx and Obsidian, stood in their place, against the terrifying Lapis Lazuli.

 _'You don't melt in water.'_ he blatantly noted in amazement.

"Nice assessment, jackass." Lapis' voice shouted through the thousands of gallons of water. "I use water as a form of offense and you think it's my greatest weakness? Who do you think I am? How do you think I've survived so long using water!? I'm not an alien from that one movie where we melt from the substance that covers seventy percent of the planet!"

 _'Duly noted.'_ Jet replied telepathically. _'I will not make the same mistake twice.'_

Lapis tilted her head, scowling. "A fusion of two idiots ain't gonna make a right!"

 _'A fusion of two_ powerful _idiots make a very bad time.'_ Jet retorted. _'I've had over a thousand of years of experience. Lapis, you've got only eleven. What makes you think you're gonna come out on top now?'_

Lapis thought of that.

She shrugged as she immediately swung her giant water fist at Jet, engulfing him in water. The fusion's eyes emanated darkness and violently ripped apart her water fist with simple concentration. Lapis swatted him again with the force of a fifty ton train. Jet rolled with it, seemingly unfazed with how much force he had to endure. The fusion was a strong one, a powerhouse for the Crystal Gems back then. He was the one to fight White Diamond and countless other high-tier beings and win. All at the same time too. Of course he would be powerful. He would win this.

Jet forced himself into her mind, but all he could see was her cloudy rage.

Lapis smashed into him in reality, so he snapped back to Earth and manifested his own telekinetic monster. His telekinesis he got from Obsidian expanded so that a dark shadow would match Lapis' avatar in size, his telepathy he got from Onyx made Lapis see black fire in his eyes. He looked threatening. And he's even countering Lapis' massive water giant, by pushing against it.

 _What in the hell..._ Lapis thought. _They... They copied my idea! And made a giant thingy! Even more bastard-ous! Those bastards! Why is_ bastard _the only word I can think of!?_

Jet started to feel a wave of nausea pass him. He decided it was Lapis fuming a lot that made his mind go seasick. Her thoughts were like a wildfire that he couldn't read. It was also unintelligible gibberish at points that he thought she was mentally insane.

Water gobbled up his view. All he could see was water. Water sloshing here and there. Water everywhere. Water in her mind. Water she controls. Water attacked him. Water in his mind.

The air was clear as day, apart from a few clouds. It didn't help Jet from the fact it was blue like water. The ocean was just being mercilessly used against him. He never thought when he first saw planet Earth that he'd expected he would wrestle the entire ocean. It was only part of it, but Lapis' determination and strength made it feel like all of it. The amount of energy she was expending just to fight against his shadow was enormous. Did she not feel the strain of her actions?

Lapis knew the physics. Her water constructs were just a buildup of water. They possess no true shape, it was just liquid. So, while pushing against Jet, her water fell apart as they adapted to Jet and pushed through. It wasn't even like a battle with Jet. She was all about the attacks, but her attacks weren't all solid. Her water construct wasn't going to last a punch from Jet's telekinesis, and she was glad he didn't realize.

A thousand years of experience? Pfft.

Still no brain.

Lapis kept her water giant's volume the same. The shape kept deforming and falling out of place, but it was falling into the ocean, where it would be then used in a cycle and fall back into the water giant.

Jet turned the tides by slashing at the water giant's body, which also struck Lapis.

Lapis flew sideways by just a simple attack, and skipped over water a few times like a rock skipping over a lake.

 _'You're not that strong.'_ he said. _'You don't possess the skill that Pearl fears about you.'_

"Aw, geez. It's all about matching expectations, huh? Just like how you thought of me best as a _battery_! Or how you think you could drown me in _water_!" Lapis replied, swerving herself right side up with her icicle dragon wings. "What the hell does Pearl think? I _saved_ her! Does nobody remember that?"

 _'Does that mean you haven't fought hard enough?'_ Jet asked. _'You've still got more fight in you?'_

"You're gauging me!" Lapis cried, forming ice gauntlets and racing over to him. "Stop judging me! That's what you do! You estimated me countless times and look where that's got you! Constantly underestimating! Constantly losing! Fight with your all! You're hiding power all the time! Let it go!"

Jet's eyes glowed. _'You're all noise. You're not actually speaking. All you're trying to do is distract me.'_ His voice went happy. _'That's impressive—'_

SMASHH! Lapis hit him _hard_. Jet howled in pain. A smirk tugged at her lips. She rocketed her knee forward, catching him in the gut. Jet easily recovered from that, took hold of her leg, and smashed it over his knee. SKRAATH! The painful sound reverberated over the sea.

Lapis growled, throwing ice chains in retaliation, over his head and wrapping it around his neck, choking him. Or just almost decapitating him. Lapis controlled the ocean below them and demanded for more binds over him, while she tended to her broken leg. She formed an ice cast over her leg so it stayed normal, when it's actually hurt bad.

 _'You hit quite hard.'_ Jet remarked, holding his waist.

"You hit like a _bastard_." Lapis retorted, slashing the air with her hand. Her command made tides rise, the clouds above them darkened, and the worst storm in history came over the ocean. Rain silently patted against them, increasing with every second. Jet stayed in the binds of chains for a moment, realizing that this terrain was _dangerous_. A danger to everyone around Lapis. She controlled it. And it made him _very_ apprehensive. Still, he wanted to see what she could do.

 _'Calling in lightning and thunder? Is that what you do when you're outta ideas?'_ Jet asked, as the clear skies quickly became the worst weather he'd seen in years. _'The storms look pretty.'_ he remarked sarcastically.

"You wanted to see me at my prime?" Lapis demanded the ocean become her weapon. Her ultramarine hair swayed harshly in the winds. Her voice was becoming hoarse, but still boomed in the noisy skies like thunder. "You wanna see what _the most powerful Gem on Earth_ can do?"

 _'Oh, that title can be up for debate.'_ he taunted.

Rain pelted him. He actually felt _rain_ becoming a strong force of nature. The phenomenon of Earth's precipitation made him think differently. He also felt hail. Ice being smacked into his bruised body. All he could see was Lapis Lazuli and water. The clouds, stormy as they can be, when broken down, are just water. The ocean basically is that. For as far as he can see, he was literally engulfed by water.

Jet finally did something after letting the ocean Gem do her thing.

He ripped apart his binds with a single thought, dispelling the ice and water around him. Dark flames extinguished the water around him, however ironic that saying might be. His telekinesis pushed apart Lapis' attacks on him, raining down the most abundant substance in the world Jet thought. Now he was encased in a dark bubble.

Jet sighed, _'I could just do to you what I did to Pearl and put you in a comatose state...'_

 _Comatose?_ Lapis felt a surge of anger though her. _Why did he have to pick that word? Comatose coma Connie's in a coma C Aquamarine! Ahh! Damn it!_

Lapis envisioned an Aquamarine over Jet.

 _Oh-hoho... I didn't think I'd take much pleasure in hallucinating before._ The ocean Gem thought, a smile apparent on her face. _Drown in hell, you sicko._

Water raged everywhere.

* * *

Lapis didn't understand what had happened next.

 _I think I got kicked._

She mused as she spun.

 _And now I'm rolling... in the air... "hurtling" would be a better word... Now, what to do?_

 _He doesn't seem hurt by water. But my physical attacks are... effective as they can be. If I come to that conclusion, then only contact with raw physical Gem fists would be his kryptonite. Physical contact with Gems. Anything else that hits him, no. But... that doesn't make much sense. Why's he the only Gem with that faculty? Is it like... an Achilles' heel?_

 _He gets stronger with what he's best at, but his flaws become deadly to him? I don't believe that. Mostly because I've never seen that happen. But could it be?_

 _Is this my winning ticket?_

Lapis felt the gravity shift. Her vision blurred with colors. She yelled, bursting through the office of a building. Glass, concrete, papers flew with her. Finally, she felt the hold of darkness disappear, right as she exited the building. So she spread out her water wings and hovered in the air. She turned herself right side up, looking around for Jet.

The dark fusion stood in the air, right beside her. Lapis clenched her fists, ice forming on her knuckles. She turned to throw a punch, but he caught it with his mind.

 _'You found a way to defeat me?'_ Jet chuckled, his arms crossed. _'Sounds like a fairy tale.'_

Lapis flinched, peering over at the damage. A giant hole on the thirty-first floor of a building. A lot of property damage there. They're not gonna like it. The Revolution's not gonna like it.

Pearl won't like it. Lapis groaned.

 _'I don't have weakness.'_ Jet exclaimed, throwing her away. Lapis tumbled through the air before righting herself again. _'_ I _am the most powerful Gem on this world.'_

"That's what I said." Lapis informed, rubbing her busted lip. "That's what I've thought for ten years."

Her mind flashed back to kidnapping Steven, to getting cracked by Pearl, fighting Amber to a standstill, hell even that fight with the Jasper on the moon. Even after all that, she hadn't unleashed her true capacity. This guy... he wasn't afraid of that. He was free. She was forever chained by her morals, which she never thought she had.

 _'So?'_ Jet replied, floating over to her. _'I've said it for hundreds.'_

"But you're a fusion."

 _'Who cares if I'm a fusion? I am still powerful._ All _-powerful.'_ His eyes glowed dangerously. His fingers seem to have long, sharp claws growing out of them. He was coming dangerously close. _'Even_ you _can't stop me.'_

Lapis felt her hair flow through the winds. "Hah." she laughed humorlessly. Her eyes looked murderous. However, Jet's eyes were hidden under a silver mask. It was hard for her to read his expression. "What a joke."

Jet angrily threw himself at her, the Onyx side of him glowing. His image started to blur, almost like he had three versions of himself vibrating in one place. His actions start becoming akin to the monsters of horror movies. Even Lapis felt fear grip her Gem. She instinctively spun to the side, watching as Jet roared. She swore his helmet just opened its nonexistent mouth and the metal itself roared. His cape flowed through the sky like it was streaming ink. The aura he showed looked like a wraith.

Lapis blinked and all of those hallucinations went away. Damn. He was getting into her mind. Bit by bit. She was losing control.

Jet turned to her. Suddenly, everything went dark for Lapis, and Jet's shimmering image was what she could see. The light glancing off his helmet and armor. And then, just as light seemed to vanish, they went back on. And _he_ was gone.

Lapis hovered back, looking around. Her water wings started steaming. Mist started to cloud the place dramatically.

 _'I told you, Lapis...'_ His voice boomed inside her, her wings vibrating to his voice.

The blue Gem swished around, her head diving into the source of the sound. But he wasn't there. It was broad daylight, yet she couldn't find him. She looked around the corners of tall buildings, then down at the roads and traffic. She was frantically looking for him.

 _'...I could end you easily...'_

Lapis grit her teeth and smacked the side of her head, trying to get his voice out of her skull. Then, she noticed the fog departed into two ways. That was... strange.

She lunged at the air, suddenly bumping into him. He didn't move an inch from where she last saw him! That bastard turned himself invisible in her vision! The instant she bumped into him, everything went dark again. She looked up, seeing the face of a beast, not Jet's. And the creature he chose was terrifying to Lapis for a split second. It was something... unexpected.

Bats. He chose _bats_.

It shrieked, desperately flapping its wings, and it disappeared as daylight came back on.

Lapis grunted in frustration.

 _'How could you hope to beat me? You can't even find me.'_

She sneered, "Could you get your _head_ up your _ass_ any further?" Lapis turned, looking around for him. "You're an egotistical prick. An asshole." She saw something move in the corner of her eyes. "Once I found your weakness, you use mind games to steer me away from using them." Darkness crept in front of her. "Come on! Come out, let's see if you don't have any weaknesses!"

 _'You have weaknesses.'_

Lapis glanced at the source of the sound. It was on the building. The glass. The reflection. In Lapis' reflection, she saw herself. Except, her wings were the color of deep red. She could tell from its shape that it felt thicker. Thicker than water. Blood. Human blood. Lapis grimaced, not really scary to her. More disturbing. She knew she had that capability, to control humans with their blood, but that would just be... disgusting. And messy.

It was then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at the real world, no hand. She looked back at the mirror, and low and behold, he was there. He now had long talons, his iron mask had been shaped into a grin, his cape and hood turned into fire. White blood dripped over Lapis' nose. It trickled over her face. It didn't startle her much. She had blood all over her face in a lot of battles. But she didn't like someone being behind her. That's where her Gem is...

"What... What is this? What are you trying to do? Scare _me_?" Lapis snorted, clenching her fists so hard she had white knuckles. And bloodied palms. She reached over her face and smudged the trail of Gem blood. "That'll be the day..."

 _'You're also arrogant.'_ Jet leaned over her shoulder, whispering in her ear. _'You're tragic, Lapis. Is that what you want to hear? You're broken.'_

The glass cracked. Lapis jumped. For some reason, that honestly scared her.

 _'You've fought for freedom. You've experienced great joys.'_

In the reflection, Jet pierced Lapis' body with his new claws, and ripped her apart. Her physical form horrifyingly poofed and all that's left was her gemstone, floating in the air. His image flickered to Onyx and she took Lapis in the palms of her hands. Then Jet came back and slammed Lapis' Gem against the glass, a web of cracks apparent on the window.

 _'And then you realize you're alone now.'_

Lapis contemplated at her reflection, glaring daggers at Jet, who still had his hand on her Gem, threatening to shatter it in front of her.

 _'By the end of today. This is you.'_

Echoes of her gem shattering repeated in her skull.

She lurched forward instinctively, touching the small of her back to make sure he didn't get her. She looked down at her hands, touched her own face for reassurance, and looked back at the mirror.

With a dead expression on her face, Lapis floated away from that window and looked at another building for her reflection. She couldn't find it. She looked at another, and she still couldn't find her reflection. Was she a ghost? No no no, this was Jet's doing. Evident as Jet followed her through the reflections—the glass—the mirrors, gloating at her.

 _'Isn't that paradise for you? You_ hate _mirrors. Now, you can't see yourself in one! Just like a vampire! Isn't that a happy ending?'_

"Like a... fairy tale." Lapis replied grimly. She frowned. "You're just doing the impossible. But this is just visuals. It's not real. It's all in my head..."

Jet waited for a little bit more, before deciding to talk.

 _'What? No more insults?'_ Jet raised a hand to his chin. _'Did I press Lapis' off switch? Huh. Weird. Just when it's getting fun.'_

Lapis focused a dense plate of ice covering her gemstone on her back, and Jet started fading away. But her reflection didn't return.

Silence.

Jet acted like a horror movie, building suspense, dropping hints, then loud erratic entrance. She wouldn't even if he actually struck her at this moment—

BRAKAAAMM! In a roar like thunder, she was struck in the small of her back by Jet.

She crashed through the building she was looking at, smashing through floors and concrete walls, a few wooden floors, and a mix of colors and smells. She ended up hurtling through glass doors and hit a vending machine on the other side of the road. People screamed and ran, fleeing from the street. The humans knew their place, they were beneath them. The city started raising alarms, evacuating the area. Lapis laid sprawled out on the vending machine, her dense plate of ice now split into two.

She noticed all the free drinks she got. Cold sodas. She thought they taste better when they're in a can. She couldn't waste an opportunity like this. Plus, she was thirsty and needed the energy.

Jet floated towards her, about to begin another phase, when he watched Lapis down a dozen cans.

Lapis glugged down another soda, raised her free arm, and fire hydrants exploded. Jet looked around and nodded.

 _'You understand the present. The world around you. You understand these humans' backgrounds. And you use it to your advantage.'_ Jet remarked, watching streams of water start attacking him from everywhere. He brought up a telekinetic shield, a dark bubble that reflected water away, as he walked over to Lapis. _'That's quite fascinating. Don't you think?'_

Lapis clenched her fist, and the water streams turned into chains. Jet nodded at them again.

 _'You're using chains more often now than before. Pearl didn't see chains of water back then. What happened now? Something inspirational? Or did you realize..._ _you can't beat me. You can't defeat the enemy, so you resort to chaining it—the beast.'_ Jet grinned under his mask. _'You know you can't beat me. Your subconscious, your style of fighting, even going so far as to find a weakness instead of fighting fair with me... You understand the gravity of this situation. That I am not a force to be trifled with!'_

Lapis groaned, putting her head down. "And I am a force of nature. Literally. I'm also not to be trifled with."

 _'You're not saying something about the chains.'_ Jet noted, stepping towards her, daring her to hit him square in the face. _'What about the chains, Lapis?'_ he spoke the name with poison. _'The chains won't do anything to me. You know that. Best plan you have is stalling for time, not sure why, but your only observation of my weakness is physical interaction. You don't want me near. Are you afraid of me?'_

Lapis couldn't say yes to that. She had to retort quickly to save her pride. But is it really worth saving?

"Honestly, you run your mouth a lot." Lapis remarked. "You remind me of another person I once knew... Her name was Amber. I remember her style. She talked charismatically, saying bullshit to scare me. But then I found out, how much she lied. Behind her eyes, she had this style of thinking. To keep barking with small bites. And before she died, she bit too much for her to swallow." She smiled at the recalling of her death. "She had nothing to prove that she could do anything. She just spoke and told stories. She told a giant faction of Gems that she could create a better world... look where that got the lying son of a bitch at."

The dark fusion scanned her mind.

 _'It got that lying son of a bitch... insurance.'_ Jet stormed through her chain of water. He stood dangerously close to her. A couple inches away from her face. His telekinetic bubble exploded and dealt with the water chains, halting its movement. Lapis was just unfazed by it. _'She's now at five different places, with nobody able to touch her. Except..._ Pearl _. It's like an exclusive club. Amber won. She even got_ you _, out of all people, to hide her remains from people's hands. What do you think Amber wants so much?'_

Lapis narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, when you put it that way." she shrugged her shoulders. She took a step back and scratched her hair, waiting for his answer.

 _'Amber became a weapon used to destabilize Gems. Pearl made a chemical algorithm out of her, just to stop you. She was gonna win. Even against you.'_ Jet said. _'She was still vital to Pearl's plan of your downfall. She's vital to killing Gems. She'd done it. Total massacre. All because of Pearl. I have to give credit, she had more control over her mind than you do! I can read you like a book. Her? Not that much.'_

Lapis thought about how Onyx and Obsidian were weakened when she came to them. "I'm gonna guess that this chemical algorithm Pearl found was used against you too."

Jet smacked his lips. He looked down at his hands. _'Before I forget, you were right, I... I've actually been holding back more power.'_ He raised his hands and a red ball of swirling energy coalesced in his left hand. _'Now this... This is a hex bolt. Not to be confused with the hexagonal construction bolt. Now, what hex bolts are made of is just a kind of gaseous energy. Another state of matter._ Dark matter _, to be more precise. And it is_ explosive _! And this has been used against the Diamonds and some high-tier beings, like... I dunno, say some powerful individuals, so-called "gods" of another planet... I'm just gonna say, you're powerful, Lapis. In a matter of speaking, on this planet, you are powerful. You know the ins and outs of your specialty. You could possibly create this,'_ he waved the hex bolt around, _'if you wanted to. It's just a different state of matter. Maybe a different state of water. But, if you are deprived of water, you are not powerful, Lapis. You are weak. You are a battery. You're meant for nothing.'_

"You're telling me this because you're confident you're gonna win." she read from his expression, noting her potential of using dark matter. She didn't know what it was entirely, but it was kept in the back of her head. She glared, "You think you're speaking to a ghost."

 _'Sorry, Lapis. You're quite the opponent, but still inferior, like all the others.'_ He flicked the hex bolt, letting it spin. _'By the end of today, Lapis. You do remember my threats right?'_

"Yeah, you're gonna shatter me. You've been saying that all the time." the blue Gem replied. "But at least, I know what your secret is."

 _'Oh?'_

* * *

He did it.

Lapis thought her ears were bleeding. Ringing. She couldn't hear a thing. That explosion must've blasted her senses.

She also thought there was a hole in her chest.

 _Damn, that hex bolt sure is something._

She clutched her aching chest and wheezed. She dropped to her knees, noticing the vast amount of blood running down her jeans. Lapis glanced down at her superficial wounds... which were not that superficial. It was definitely a deep wound. Blood poured. She felt everything getting heavier. Her own soul felt like it was just floating out.

Lapis caught herself coughing, spluttering blood. She hurriedly fixed herself up by forming an ice cast over her torso. Now she had her leg broken and her body blasted. What's next?

 _'You can't hear a thing. Wow. You're deaf. Good thing I speak telepathically, or else...'_

Lapis brought her fingers around her ear, finding out it was covered in her blood. That was actually a lot more blood involved than she expected. Her hand was almost covered in it. She still needed it in her system. She licked it experimentally and it was repulsive.

Lapis said something. She said that this was worse than her back being broken.

But she couldn't hear it.

Jet was right. She was actually deaf. She looked around, her eyes widened in horror. She couldn't hear. She was in another street, a traffic light fell and dented the pavement, which she noticed. She didn't hear it. The dust settled, and Jet saw her stunned look.

 _'What's wrong? Can't hear anything else than my sweet voice?'_ His eyes widened. _'Oh, you... it's like you have a hole in your chest. That's gonna be a problem.'_

The ocean Gem started breathing hard.

Lapis screamed.

She can't hear it. She can't hear her own voice.

 _'Okay, my voice isn't that sweet. But that was loud.'_

Lapis asked if he could hear him.

 _'Yes, I can. It's not that your voice doesn't work, it's that your hearing doesn't. You're focusing on the wrong thing.'_ he told her telepathically.

She smacked her head, stomped the ground for noise, and nothing happened. Was she going to be deaf forever? Or was this temporary? No no no, she was going to regenerate and come back hearing. After she kicked this guy's ass.

 _'C'mon. You lost one of your senses.'_ Jet mused. _'I know for a fact it takes a lot of time to adapt to missing a sense. Take a break. I'm not that heartless.'_ Lapis didn't flee or waver, she stayed in the battlefield. _'Alright, I am that heartless. I was gonna destroy you if you actually did give up.'_

 _Then you don't know who I am._ Lapis replied in her head. _I am Lapis Lazuli. I, like water, adapt. So..._

 _'You're just abusing my ability to read minds.'_

 _Have to make good use for it, dude._

Lapis charged, still miffed that she couldn't hear the wind blowing through her hair, and threw a solid hit to his jaw. She wished she could hear her fist colliding with his jaw, but now, she couldn't even hear his Gem crack. She wanted to hear their Gems crack from the beginning, and now she couldn't! Now, she won't be able to hear their cries.

 _What would Steven and Connie think about this?_ Lapis thought dejectedly. _If this is permanent, that is. It can't be. If I couldn't hear, then... that's bullshit. I'm a Gem! How can that happen?_

She realized another thing that made her freeze. She couldn't hear Steven and Connie laugh. Their voices. She won't be able to hear them talk. To hear how it changes while they grow.

 _'Still brooding?'_ Jet rubbed his jaw. Lapis turned to glare at him. It was the only sound she could hear. _'I'll let you have some whale noise.'_

Lapis heard the mating calls of whales and immediately got irritated.

She shouted shut up. But now she understood she didn't know how loud she was or how quiet she'd be. Her lungs and throat were stinging. The whale noises keep continuing. Lapis coughed, her lungs felt like exploding after shouting. She looked down, and yep, her chest wasn't doing too good. It was getting worse. She needed to end this quickly, like she did Amber.

Lapis searched for the water molecules in the air around Jet, and made it freeze. Jet noticed the snow that surrounded him, which glued themselves to him. He repelled most of them, but the ones he didn't... he felt small pains shooting around in his body.

 _Water is gonna fill up and clog your system._ Lapis thought.

 _'What?'_

 _And I will stop you from controlling your body._

Jet felt himself moving, against his will, to leave himself wide open to any attacks. His control over reality didn't match Lapis' control over water. He was rusty.

Lapis stomped over to him, swinging a fist into his cheek. He fell, striking the ground with his body. Lapis loomed over him, holding him down by the neck and held out his arm. She placed her knee over it, and CRACK, his arm broke. Lapis didn't know if he screamed. She moved over to his chest, and shoved a palm down on his armor, intending to crush his ribs. Slowly, but surely, she could feel pressure under her fingers start to dwindle.

Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed her by the shoulder. Lapis was headbutted instantly after.

Jet groggily got back up, wrapping an arm over his ribs and letting his broken arm flow. Lapis recovered, stomped on his foot, crushing his feet, and elbowed him in the chest. His hand was placed over it instead, so she crushed all the bones in his palm. He backed away, silently or not, she didn't know.

 _Even after escaping my grip, you're useless._ Lapis thought. _You do have a weakness._

 _'How cliche.'_ He told her. _'I'm gonna die because some lunatic found out my weakness only after a bit of fighting. Pure genius. Have to hand it to ya, real detective. You proud of yourself?'_

Lapis narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Jet taunted by using his broken arm to wave.

 _You're using your "moving objects around" power to do that._ Lapis said, dabbing her forehead with her fingers. She looked down at them. Blood again. _How many times...?_

 _'You're weak too, Lapis.'_ He brought out another hex bolt. _'Another shot, you're done for.'_

She gritted her teeth. _Try me. You can't possibly make me even more deaf._

Jet threw his hex bolt at Lapis, who dodged. The thing exploded and she could feel the wind graze her skin. She felt accomplished, she dodged it even though she wasn't able to hear it coming. It reminded her she was deaf again, which made her even angrier. She spartan-kicked him away, with enough force to send him flying through the holes in the building, which Jet had made from the same hex bolt that also made her deaf.

Lapis glanced back at the damage caused. The building's stability was collapsing from a hole in its integral stature. In minutes, the architectural structure wouldn't hold and would end up crashing against another building. She held out her hand, freezing water particles in the vicinity to hold the building up.

 _'You care about these humans.'_ His voice entered her mind once again. _'But you say you only do it because they'll yap at you for the destruction. The highway, Kronos Quad, Dexterity Castle, Beach City's beach, the desert, and now this city.'_

 _Not all of them are important._ Lapis replied.

 _'No. But it doesn't make you less guilty.'_ There was a momentary pause. _'You can't hear this, can you?'_

Lapis turned instantly to Jet and a hex bolt headed her way. She knew it mustn't hit her body, it'd been damaged too much. So, in a short amount of time, she decided to smack it with her hand. She didn't need it that much, did she?

Oh stars.

It _burned_.

She couldn't hear it, but she felt herself trembling even after the explosion. The ice in her body cracked, receiving a scream from her. Her insides felt cut up even more. She fortified the ice and mended it into a layer of armor. She couldn't feel her left arm. She did whatever she can just to fix that. She recalled the event where she ripped that Jasper's arm off. It wasn't a good thought.

No worries. Just need to regenerate after this. It's gonna take a long time to regenerate.

 _'Oh, you're still alive.'_ Jet said cheekily. _'You're tearing yourself apart, Lapis. All you've got is... a nub.'_

 _Shut up._ Lapis' eye twitched.

 _'You've never gotten hurt that badly and refuse to regenerate. Man, the pain must be unbearable. Wow. How long until you poof?'_

 _You're gonna destroy the world. So as long as you're dead._ Lapis made an arm out of ice to replace what was missing, and tore off her mostly-destroyed leather jacket. _I'll rest easy for the rest of my life._

 _'Because you have someone to fight for.'_ Jet huffed as he floated over to Lapis, holding his chest close from his broken ribs. His crushed hand wasn't helping and his crushed foot didn't seem any necessary. His broken arm could still be used. _'Well, that kinda sucks for me. You're ehhh, and I was getting emotionally attached to you for that.'_

 _Saying it like that... mostly means you're not._

Lapis felt her ice-arm cracking, and so was her chest and leg. She gasped for air a bit, before realizing again she didn't need to breathe. The blue Gem rushed into Jet and launched her foot into his chest. She reluctantly stopped inches away from him.

 _'Kill shot.'_

Jet made a hex bolt and tossed it right at her.

Lapis cursed under her breath.

Her body was flung through a wall, shards of ice flying with her. She tumbled across the road, skidding against gravel and raising up a dust cloud. She bumped into a truck, her head denting the metal edge. She groaned, rising up after a moment. What did she lose this time? She checked and... nothing wrong.

That static feeling in the air came around to her again.

She looked around, catching a glimpse of the speed demon holding his burning shoulder, before he ran off.

 _'I don't believe it. You're still going.'_ Jet clenched one of his fists, walking out of the building. _'How?'_

Lapis joked about a guardian demon, but then noticed she still didn't have her hearing, so her voice awkwardly trailed off into silence.

 _'I can't even look at you anymore...'_ pitied the dark fusion, _'It's really pitiful. Look, I'll just send you off. Then it's a win-win for both of us. You rest easy and I kill you!'_

Lapis grunted as she heaved herself up. She questioned herself as dastardly pain shot through her spine. Her gemstone was burning. Was this going to be the last moments of her life? Death by crazy war hero? After all she'd done, was this the end? Did she find a being that was more powerful than her?

 _No. Not yet. Not now!_ Lapis gritted her teeth. Her only hand was closed into a fist. She'd never begged before. _Please not_ now _!_

Jet looked up at the sky. The ocean Gem didn't hear him in her mind, so she followed his gaze. If only she could hear, she would've noticed the sound of the helicopter blades whizzing. She huffed, staring at the helicopter wearily.

 _That's a... news chopper... Steven, he... He's probably watching._ Lapis looked at herself shamefully. _And I'm in this state. I'm_ broken _. He's gonna see me lose. He's gonna see me like this._

 _'I've forgotten how you've kidnapped Steven.'_ Jet turned to her, talons growing. _'And Steven is Rose Quartz' son. You're the one. You took my dead leader's kid, and raised him yourself. Now that's_ another _situation that hasn't been run over my head. Interesting...'_

Lapis muttered a curse out loud.

She watched as the fusion picked up a skyscraper off the city, letting it rise like a rocket. Lapis leaned against the truck and could only watch the building hover over her location. She was bleeding, deaf, missing a limb, and put through an extreme ordeal. She didn't think she'd survive today. She wished this was just a hallucination, a dream, a nightmare, Jet playing her mind, whatever! She didn't want this... It wasn't going the way she expected it.

The giant shadow of the skyscraper loomed over them. Jet spun his finger around and the skyscraper spun till the tip was aiming at her. The ocean Gem felt her mouth dry. Her hand and legs kept trembling. She didn't want to say it, but she knew it was impossible.

She was scared.

 _'So, you've taken Steven for a decade. Good kid, am I right?'_ Jet remembered Onyx's visions of him.

 _Yes..._ Lapis' eyes were cold, her lips sealed to stop herself from sobbing. _He's a good kid._

 _'Hopefully, you're satisfied with everything.'_

The skyscraper fell.

Lapis glanced at the truck's side mirror. She still couldn't see herself in it.

And she didn't see much of anything else after.

* * *

Steven's mouth hung agape as he watched live footage of his mother losing. He saw her. He saw the image of her mother get torn to bits. She was missing an arm, there was blood everywhere, and she looked like she had a broken leg.

As the skyscraper rose, his heart raced. He told himself Lapis would survive. She had to, she was the strongest Gem on the planet. But as she got crushed by a skyscraper, he knew it was... simply impossible. The frown on his face deepened, and a demon of a soul exploded in his heart. He heard the giant outburst of several hundred metric tons crashing against the ground. A giant rumbling of the floor made his legs crumble. Steven didn't stop watching.

A little part of him died inside.

A hopeful candle with a tiny flame extinguished by a hurricane.

Steven glanced back at Connie, hoping she would wake. But she didn't. She was still resting. The demigem leaned against the railings of her bed, his hands clenched tightly around the bar. He had an intense desire to rip out the closest thing to him. But not Connie. His hands shook.

He let the feeling build up. Slowly rising in him.

Unbeknownst to him, the metal bar in his hands twisted.

He needed to get out of here.

 _Not yet, my child._ A voice told him.

The demigem let out an exasperated scream. " _HAAHHHH_!"

Steven ripped out the metal railing and hastily tossed it at a wall. The vase he took shattered into bits of divided porcelain. Steven breathed out heavily, his aggressive fingers digging into the desk beside the hospital bed. He'd never done that before. He'd never been so _angry_.

The feeling of rage... It reawakened in him.

* * *

Lapis cringed away.

She took a step back, grasping her chest. She was confused to feel fabric and a sense of comfort. Looking down, she didn't have a scratch on her. Experimentally, she waved her fingers around, watching her reflection come together in a bubble of water.

Her reflection.

She could see herself?

"Uh..." she said, and immediately her heart jumped.

She could hear!

"...that... was that a... nightmare. It's _not_ real. Please!"

It didn't make any sense. She was about to bite the dust. The skyscraper struck her, she felt the impact of a hundred nuclear bombs. She swore she felt her own body rip into pieces. If that happened, then she poofed. And now she's better. She's all in one piece.

Did she regenerate?

What _happened_?

Did Steven and the others find a way to win?

How much time has passed?

Is Connie okay now?

Where is she?

She looked around the house. Wooden floors. A kitchen behind her, a warp pad even further, and the door to the Crystal Gems' rooms furthest. To her right was a couch, and there was a staircase that led to a bedroom. In front was the door to outside, and a portrait of Rose Quartz was hung over it. This didn't seem familiar. Was it new? Did she stay in her gemstone for _that_ long? That they were able to build a house in the Crystal Temple?

Lapis rushed out of the place, trying to find someone— _anyone_. She didn't know what was happening anymore. She needed reassurance.

It was night out. The stars and the moon shined brightly in contrast to the deep-blue sky. The waves of the beach were peaceful. Lapis could sense the tranquility of sea salt in the air. It was calming.

She hopped over the railings and skidded down the beach. She had no time for stairs. Glancing back, she saw the giant Gem statue, and the house was neatly placed in its stomach. It was awfully familiar to her, but she couldn't place why. She had no memory of it. She never even thought of a house under that statue.

If the Earth was still intact, then Jet failed. He didn't destroy it. At least that answered one of her questions. Just ninety-nine more to go.

"LAPIS!"

The ocean Gem jumped. Someone just screamed her name, _desperately_. She looked around the beach, and nobody was there.

" _LAPIS_!"

She recognized the voice. This time, she pinpointed the source of the sound.

Lapis froze.

Nothing but the sound of waves crashing onto the beach was heard for miles.

The blue Gem inched closer to the sound.

" _LaPiS_!"

Her feet brought her to a mirror. An innocent and elegant mirror. Lapis' blood went cold, realizing what it was. The shouting was coming from this thing. There was nothing else that could've done it. She had the urge to grab it. To flip it over and see...

Lapis' hand trembled as she saw a pink quartz stuck to the mirror.

" _LaPIs_!"

 _No no no nonononononoNONONONONONO_

Lapis grabbed Steven's gem from the mirror and tugged at it. She frantically pulled.

This can't happen. It can't be happening. It's not possible. This wasn't happening. It had to be a trick!

It felt real. It felt real to Lapis. She couldn't leave Steven behind like this.

Another tug, and it popped off.

The mirror cracked, pieces of it fell. Lapis saw her life descend with the pieces, like it resonated within her. She didn't realize her hands were covered in frost.

The pink quartz glowed. It hovered and energy sprouted. It shaped itself into the young demigem. He kneeled over, his back faced to her. Lapis had a few heavy frightened breaths, looking down at the kid.

Seeing him stay still made her worried. "Steven?"

The demigem turned his head to her. His eyes were glossy. They're... blank mirrors. Lapis stood in shock. Denial overwhelmed her. He didn't say anything.

"No... please..." Lapis muttered under her breath. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, fearing she'd lose him to some sadistic freak of nature. "Steven? You're still there right? _Please_... tell me you are."

Pain shot through her waist. Lapis looked and saw a pipe stuck in her abdomen. He started moving again. "Steven" took hold of her arm, and tore it right off, dismembering the same limb she lost. A wide array of white liquid splattered on the ground. He stomped on her leg, breaking it, and called in his sword— _Rose Quartz's_ sword. Lapis looked in horror, tears streaming down her face as he plunged it into her chest. She couldn't breathe. Blood spilled over the sand.

He pulled the blade back, letting another wave of blood splash everywhere.

Lapis fell forward, her only hand holding onto his shirt. All she could hear was the ringing... then after a while, nothing. And—

* * *

The real world...

Jet tore her body apart, like he did in the reflection. His talons violently ripped her apart to the point where nothing remained. She poofed. The remains of ice in her body fell into the fragments of the desolate skyscraper.

Lapis Lazuli's gemstone floated in the air, and it landed in the dark grasp of the fusion.

Sounds of cracks slowly filled the silent air. Pressure made deep cuts into the ultramarine gem. Chunks of her flew out of his hand. The rest was being threatened to turn to dust.

Jet opened his palm, and the remains of Lapis Lazuli were evident on his hand.

 _'By the end of today, Lapis. By the end of today.'_

* * *

 **A/N:** **Ahahaha. Ha. That was a trip.**

 **This took _SO_ long! *swirls in chair* Sorry, guys.**

 **Eh. It's not like anything happened. Actually, I was on holiday. And I was away, left my computer at home. I kinda ran out of writing fuel. And then trying to save finished thing on the site was horrible because I'm on an old iPad. And then I had to wait eleven hours till I was finally at home. I had some distractions on the way because a few security guards stopped me because they thought I was carrying a bomb. But at least I got this chapter out!  
**

 **Ughhhhh.**

 **It's not like this chapter was important or anything.**

 **So not important.**

* * *

 **Breaking News: Demonic Heroine refers to Lapis Lazuli, who's the hero, but has this weird moral standard. You were probably thinking about some speed demon. It also might mean Onyx or Obsidian or Jet. They were war heroes. They're also demonic.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Our Hopes In Fears"**

* * *

 **Character Faves:**

Amethyst: 1

Lapis Lazuli: 1

Sapphire: 1


	37. Chapter 35: Our Hopes In Fears

**A/N: Brethren! This marks the day the story passed 200,000 words! So, if you pass this chapter, then you've actually read quite a lot. Congratulations to all of us! To me for my ability to type and to you for being able to stick around and being ultimately patient.  
**

 **A toast to all of us and our beloved fallen.**

* * *

 **Chapter 35: _Our Hopes In Fears_**

* * *

 _Lapis Lazuli is gone._ The speed demon thought, his frown deepening. He stood up from his position. _I need to intervene._

* * *

Amethyst stumbled across an electrical appliances store and saw the news. She and the other Crystal Gems were able to escape Onyx and Obsidian, but Lapis wasn't lucky enough. She had been broken down, hit by a skyscraper, then dug out, only to be viciously ripped apart. She didn't believe that actually happened on television.

The Crystal Gems had fled cowardly while Lapis stayed in the battlefield to die. Sugilite had become unstable, Lapis was torn to pieces, she didn't know what happened to Pearl... what's next? What else could Onyx do before she destroys the world?

"They're going to kill us..." she finally realized. "There's no escaping that."

The idea of dying made her brain wander off. Watching Lapis die like that made her rethink her life. That Gem was the strongest person she knew, Amethyst even _feared_ she would kill her for starting the Bloodstone war, and Onyx still proved that she could destroy someone like her. It was a catalyst of misery. Amethyst racked her brain to think of a solution to this. She was supposed to be the leader, she was supposed to be the one in control of the situation. But the situation had spiraled straight into hell.

They were being hunted. By the most powerful being that had formerly been on their side, fighting against Homeworld. It looks like they don't care anymore. They're now the lone wolf, intending to strike so hard the Universe itself will tremble. They're going to destroy Earth and Homeworld. Amethyst's eyes widened, that meant Peridot too.

That nerd's precious sneer is going to be wiped off the Universe's face. Her mind had come to a conclusion. Her eyes stared dead into the news feed.

A chunk of the skyscraper was thrown at the chopper, and Amethyst watched the helicopter feed turn to static.

* * *

Kyanite saw her mother kill off _Lapis Lazuli_.

After the incident in the desert, called the Bloodstone war, she didn't think there was anyone scarier than that blue Gem. Lapis had flooded the desert in her turmoil, something Kyanite found horrifying. Calling water from hundreds of miles away to finish off a war in a split second was scary. She could've done it any time during it, and the weight of that power terrifies Kyanite to the core. The ocean Gem could end her if she wanted to.

Seeing her parent effortlessly and ferociously finish her off was... life-changing.

This was the Gem that raised her.

She didn't think that they were actually _that_ powerful. She'd seen them fight. She participated battles against Homeworld with them. But this...

They were immensely powerful. Crazy powerful. How could that be the person who raised her? To have such a brutality instinct, killing off Lapis in a vile manner. She couldn't believe it. She knew they would do everything in their power to protect her, but to utterly destroy someone without a hint of remorse was something darker. It was something villainous. A trait of an evil murderer.

And to top it of, Lapis was Steven's caretaker. The cyan Gem couldn't imagine what he would think of this. Would he shun Kyanite off because she was practically Onyx and Obsidian's daughter? Or would he try to hunt them, only to inevitably get himself killed? She didn't know which one was worse. She hoped that Onyx wasn't planning on destroying the world, because nobody would survive that.

Kyanite thought it was psychotic. Her parents were simply evil. Kyanite had been struck with craziness after enduring transformation after transformation from corruption to uncorruption, and vice versa. But what did her parents endure? Only being trapped in a bubble, she supposed. Kyanite didn't know if she was better than her parents because of this... It was a hard comparison to make.

The cyan Gem rushed to the Crystal Temple, trying to work out how to use the Warp Pad. Because honestly, when it came down to it, she knew next to nothing about the recent times.

* * *

Pyrite hummed a tune from her favorite show, while walking down the hallway of the Revolution base. She and Howlite had done their jobs finishing off the drug cartel and helping arrest people, so they were free to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. If there were any important missions that suddenly came up, then she was sure they'd call her back.

Today, she wore an aviator's jacket over her humorous white shirt, which had a picture of a nuclear explosion on it. She wore skinny jeans with matching slip-on shoes. A pair of headphones were fitted around her neck, playing a completely different tune to her humming.

Across her, Howlite came into view and stormed the halls.

"Pyrite, I've been looking all over for you!" she chided, marching up to her in gladiator gear. "Where have you been? Didn't you hear the call?"

Pyrite blinked. "What do you mean?"

"We're ordered to fight the fusion!"

"There's a fusion?"

The silver Gem was about to say something, before she caught sight of Pyrite's clothing. "What are you wearing?"

"We were done with work so I wore my... _after-work_ human attire." she innocently answered.

Howlite glared at her clothes. "It'll do. Come on. The fusion was here half an hour ago, Pearl had stalled it. Now it's fighting this _Lapis Lazuli_ and just lifted a skyscraper a hundred miles east." Her tone was excited, but only because there was news of Pearl going up against this dark fusion. To her, Pearl had done a tribute of bravery, and was a hero to her eyes. But she can't show that through professional means.

"Is this like a chance to meet Pearl?" Pyrite guessed, her eyes half-closed. Steps echoed through the halls as they walked, one full of clanking metal and the other full of squeaky rubber.

"Yes, it is." Howlite replied sternly.

"You probably want to meet her."

"Yes. Absolutely." Howlite added, but had to hide her joy, "Only to talk about battle strategies. And our plan to beat that fusion. Serious stuff."

"Well, okay, I guess." Pyrite responded skeptically. She tilted her head back, cracking a smile. "You know, with a fusion that powerful, you and I would probably have to fuse."

"Fuse?" she grimaced at the idea. "I'd rather die than fuse with you again." Howlite mocked as she turned her head to the side. "We could probably find a way without that darn technique."

As Howlite suddenly picked up speed and hurried down the hall, Pyrite stared solemnly down the passage, fear swelling up inside her. She had a feeling she knew who this fusion was. She had a lot of fights in the war on Earth thousands of years ago. She served Yellow Diamond and fought for Gem dominance over the Universe. Once she fought against the Crystal Gems, she had the luck of being in a battle with two fusions, one of them she knew was impossibly strong. If this "fusion" is who she thinks it is, then they were in serious trouble.

* * *

Pyrite was right.

"I've fought _Jet_ before." the golden Gem admitted, the name rolling off her tongue weirdly. She noticed the dark circles under Pearl's eyes.

Pearl unfolded her arms, checking Pyrite's clothing. She put it behind her head and came to a realization that Pyrite had experience. "During the Homeworld War?" she asked.

Pyrite could feel Howlite's glare deep in her skull. After all, she was casually talking to that silver gladiator's idol. "Is that five thousand years ago?"

Pearl looked troubled, staring down at the metal floor. She looked back up, her eyes tense with a small glint of hope. "You fought them five thousand years ago? And _lived_... Impressive." she remarked.

Howlite's mouth hung open bewilderly behind Pyrite. Pearl _complimented_ her.

"I'm pretty powerful." Pyrite said eagerly. "Yellow Diamond requested me on the front lines—"

"I remember Garnet talking about you." Pearl recalled, "You use powerful blows against your opponents. The more it's charged, the more brutal it becomes..." She had a ghost of a smile on her face. "I'm kinda glad you're here now. I didn't know you still existed, but I think you'll work better on the front lines against him. You're repositioned to first encounter."

"First encounter?"

"You'll be the one leading physical charge against Jet. Or..." She scratched her head. "...to say it better, you're gonna be our first heavy hitter. Your physical abilities could prove against Jet. Since that's his weakness... How did he best you?"

"Some kind of energy ball." Pyrite answered. Pearl nodded, knowing of his hex bolts. Those were _deadly_. Only Jet had the capacity to use them.

Howlite was fuming with jealousy.

"Where am I on the plan?" she demanded. Inwardly, she cursed at her impoliteness to her hero. But then, it would be good to show to Pearl that she was serious about the mission.

"You? Uh..." Pearl's face twisted into confusion. "...You're... with the army, if the situation goes worse."

Howlite's frown this time was the pinnacle of sadness.

"She's good. I can vouch for her." Pyrite said in a hurry, patting Howlite on the shoulder. The silver Gem rolled off her comforting hand, not needing her pity. Pearl turned to Pyrite worriedly, before her eyes were set on Howlite, drinking up her ridiculous armor.

"What can you do?" Pearl asked.

"I, uh, can fly, charge up energy, and shoot it out." Howlite answered, intimidated by her stare.

"If Pyrite wants you, you can be with her." Pearl responded. "Your energy attacks won't do much against Jet. Unless... if it's actually Gem energy, then that would be vital against him."

"Yes, it's pure Gem energy."

Pearl's tired eyes glimmered with hope. "Then you're with Pyrite." She glanced at a clock before saying, "You two should go. Now. The place is—"

"East, two hundred and sixty miles away from here." Howlite remembered. She was about to fly for it, but she tugged Pyrite's arm. "Come on! Let's go!" she shouted eagerly.

"I can't fly."

Howlite glanced at Pearl, making sure she saw her team spirit. "I'll carry you."

"Okay," Pyrite shrugged.

The two went off, leaving Pearl to talk to the other Gems. She turned to Moonstone, who looked at her warily. He had that look like he could smell the fishiness out of Pearl. He stood straighter, different to his usual slouch, and stared Pearl down. She knew he was still a teensy bit shorter, but that glare of his really made her feel like a newly made Gem.

"Where's the Gem destabilizer?"

"I still have it."

"Why didn't you use it?"

Pearl was caught in a fumble with this. "Onyx and Obsidian are very difficult Gems. I know them—I mean, I _used_ to know them. But—"

"Pearl, a Gem died." Moonstone responded gravely.

"Who?" Pearl inquired.

"It's that asshole we talked about. Turns out, wasn't much of an asshole after all." He told her.

"Lapis?" she guessed from the use of the word "asshole".

"Pearl, you're treading on a line of rage and hate now. It's a very fragile line." Moonstone replied, "You have to be careful with what you're dealing with. Lapis Lazuli isn't as bad or destructive as you say she is. She saved a building from falling, while her torso was mutilated. The end of her consciousness was with another building falling on her. Her body after that had been fed to the sharks."

Pearl's eye twitched at her teacher's sudden praise for Lapis. She walked away, tending to other Gems except Moonstone. She felt there was a barrier that surrounded him, that he was siding with Lapis. He was a traitor. She went over to Hematite and Jade, who were standing around and waiting for their orders.

"Hematite, Jade," she greeted angrily.

"What can we do?" Hematite asked.

The white knight turned to the ninja-like Gem. "Jade, you have the ability to turn invisible, right?"

"Camouflage," she told her, though her voice was slightly muffled by the mask over her nose and mouth.

"Take this." Pearl handed her a small syringe of glowing yellow liquid, which wasn't everything she had. She still kept some for safe keeping, in case Jade's journey went south. "This is a Gem destabilizer. Use it on Jet." She turned to the bulky piece of rock. "Hematite, you can be the next hit after Pyrite and Howlite are down. I don't think they could do this on their own. They'll stall, or better yet, they could win. Just be there in case anything happens."

Moonstone walked over to them. "Let me come with you." he told them, patting his now slouching back. "I could use a little exercise."

Pearl glared at the old Gem.

"Why do you have a mustache?" Hematite piped up suddenly, genuinely curious about it. "And a goatee too?"

"You haven't lived until you've grown facial hair that makes you look like a grandpa." He received confused stares from Hematite. "What I'm saying is, it makes me look like I'm old and experienced. Maybe sophisticated. I don't know."

Pearl couldn't help but have her lips tug into a smile. Moonstone may have protected Lapis in a way, but that Gem is dead. And he's still her teacher or mentor or surrogate parent. He still meant a lot to her. She couldn't stay mad at him for long. After all he'd done for her in the past, she should've acted better. She couldn't believe her anger against Lapis was that strong.

That kinda scared her for a moment.

"So, are we going now _or_...?" the small and lean ninja-Gem trailed off.

Her bulky partner answered her, "Yes. We best be off."

* * *

"You _bastard_." Howlite said through clenched teeth.

" _What_?" Pyrite asked, looking up at her.

"I want to drop you so hard." Howlite replied, her grip on Pyrite loosening. The golden Gem held her close, fearing her death at the bottom of the ocean. "But I can't. If I will, someone will notice. Pearl will notice. And I'm not going to look good."

"I have never seen you fangirl that hard before."

" _Fangirl_?" she repeated bewilderedly.

"Yeah, _fangirl_." Pyrite remarked, "If you had no sense of professionalism, I'd bet you'd be squealing in front of Pearl and touching her to make sure she wasn't a hologram." She sneered, "Dang it, I'm making references that you don't understand."

"Pyrite?"

"Yeah?"

"I know what a fangirl is. Screw you."

The pair of Gems landed on a building, getting a vantage point over the fusion. Pyrite shuddered at the sight, Jet didn't change a bit since she last saw him. Howlite was unimpressed, thinking he was overdoing it. The dark fusion was sitting over a skyscraper of rubble, admiring the view. The pair of Gems thought of how peaceful it was, and how he seemed so relaxed. Maybe if they sneaked up on him, they'd be able to get an effective hit in.

 _'I know you're there.'_

Howlite jumped. Pyrite shrieked a bit.

Jet rose from his throne of wasted material, standing to a full height of six feet. He wasn't as tall as Amber, but he still gave off that uncomfortable aura. That menacing look of his intimidated people more. His abilities so far could cause nightmares to those in his way. To the strong, he'll give them death.

Jet hovered off the ground and made his way over to them, his cape billowing in the air. It streamed around like black wings, only it looked like silky fabric and had holes in them. Jet's iron mask hid a mystery that neither Gem would want to know. The rest of his body, well, was made up from their imagination. His Gems were actually found... nowhere actually. They were hidden well under a veil of illusions and darkness, so nobody really knew where his primal weakness was.

Howlite touched her wrist, because under her gauntlet was her Gem. Pyrite averted her eyes from Jet, the agony of battling him soon replayed in her mind. All the bruises, the explosions, the burns...

 _'I remember you...'_ Jet stated, setting his sights on the golden Gem. _'Yes, you were a lucky one.'_

Howlite huffed, glancing at her partner in crime. "Well... you weren't lying. He remembers you." she whispered.

Pyrite gave her a serious glare, one that she had never given before. Howlite smirked, she had influenced the golden fellow with her glares. She's becoming serious.

 _'No need to whisper,'_ Jet told Howlite. _'We're all friends here. New and old.'_ he growled.

"Right, telepathy, telekinesis and hex bolts." Howlite repeated what Pearl warned them during their flight here. The former Crystal Gem had to squeeze in a lot of information in their quick schedules. "You can manipulate our minds."

 _'Pearl sent you two to die.'_

Pyrite remained silent, her hands clenched into fists.

 _'I'm not going to fight you. That'd be too easy now, wouldn't it?'_ Jet paced around the air, his head kept to them. He knew their potential. One of them used physical attacks and the other used energy attacks. One was, as proven by Lapis, effective, while the other was mediocre. His ribs, arm and foot still ached from the dead Gem's actions. _'No no no... I think I have something better.'_

In each of their perspectives, Pyrite saw Howlite's eyes flashing darkness, while Howlite watched Pyrite's eyes turn completely black; void of life and control. The two stared at each other warily, before glancing back at Jet, who completely vanished.

 _'Mind control.'_ His voice echoed in each other's heads, planting the seed of thought that the other was possessed.

"Howlite, you there?" Pyrite asked cautiously, taking a step back. This was not going as planned. She should've punched him in the face when she had the chance. Now they were put into this ordeal.

Howlite responded, but it was muted in Pyrite's senses. All she saw her do was aggressively opening and closing her mouth like a zombie.

The same was happening for Howlite, who wasn't able to hear Pyrite, so she said, "He's in your head, Pyrite. Fight it!"

"Ugh, Howlite... He's gotten to you." Pyrite replied, not hearing a thing.

"That's it, Pyrite. Back away." Howlite warned, "You can do this. You can fight the darkness."

Meanwhile, Jet was watching their drama. _This is getting nowhere. They don't have the heart to open to a fight. Such compassion and understanding._ He waved his hand around. _Now, what about this?_

Pyrite punched Howlite upside the head. The other snarled, but took her space.

 _No? Hmm. They have a better bond than I thought. They're reluctant to even hit each other when one clearly hit the other. I thought Howlite would have enough anger and jealousy to hit Pyrite back with no remorse, but... seems their friendship is much more stable than I thought._

Pyrite raised her hand to stop talking. Howlite followed the command. They both neared each other slowly and held out their hands, shaking on an agreement.

Jet took control for a bit, messing their peace up.

The flares in Howlite's eyes brimmed, cracks beginning to spread around her eyes. Pyrite felt the gladiator's grip on her hand tighten.

Howlite skillfully pulled Pyrite's arm, turning and swinging the golden Gem overhead. Pyrite screamed as she slammed against the roof, which instantly broke apart with the amount of force stored in her body. Howlite fell into the hole with her, both landing into a wooden table. It broke in half with their fall, while they were covered in white dust and bits of cement off the ceiling.

Pyrite rose from the table, her eyes staring at Howlite, who heaved herself up and cracked her neck. Pyrite gritted her teeth, she had been a little jumpy and trigger happy around Jet, and that fear instilled within her flared. Her paranoia of the fusion made her wild, tackling Howlite through the wall and covering them in more shavings of dry paint. Howlite coughed, her lungs felt a sharp pain. Pyrite lifted the silver Gem up, and slammed her against the ground.

"Dammit, Pyrite," Howlite muttered. "You hit like a _train_."

She flipped over, dodging a kick from the Gem. The wind slashed at her from how quick that was. Howlite threw her hand out and blasted Pyrite away with a beam of energy. Her body flew, crashing head-first against a wall and breaking several decorations off it.

"Sorry..." Howlite murmured softly, like she didn't want to get caught apologizing in this noisy mess. "...But you have to get him out of your head!"

Again, Pyrite didn't hear her. And Howlite realized she brought them into this full-fledged fight. She didn't want to be torn about by her only friend's hands.

"Sorry, Howlite. This is for your own good." And Pyrite brought back her fist before charging straight at her.

Howlite brought up her energy shield to defend against that attack. But it was charged, concentrated with force, so much so, that Pyrite barreled through it and caused a shock wave through the whole floor. Howlite was pushed back, smashing through walls again, flailing about as she destroyed private property. This wasn't looking good. The silver Gem could feel the metal on her armor vibrating wildly. Her body ached of physical pain.

"This much property damage is gonna be the end of us," Howlite joked, looking up at Pyrite looming over her. Her eyes were pitch black, soulless and evil. "Pyrite, only one of us will get to walk out of this by the end of the day. Jet has you completely controlled. And, well... I can't think of anything to help you. So... sorry about poofing you in advance. Hope you can understand, or at least mentally drain yourself so I can win."

Pyrite slammed the sole of her slip-on shoe into Howlite's face.

Blood spilled over. The silver Gem skidded back, crashing into a grandfather clock. Howlite moaned in pain. Her nose leaked like a faucet.

"Or, maybe you'll win this. And uh, Jet'll get bored of you. Good plan," Howlite struggled to scowl. " _Not_."

Pyrite stood over the Gem, planting a foot on her chest. "I hope you can forgive me, Howlite. But Jet has you, and I can't think of any other way. You'd think I'm dumb, but I really can't think. I just..." She felt her heart pang once her foot drove an inch into her chest, crushing her ribs. "...I... just..."

Howlite cried out in agony.

Pyrite stepped off, watching Howlite's face burst into pain. She could see tears running down her face. She... never cried. Not once. Pyrite didn't even think that would be possible. Sure she joked, but seeing her in a mess like this, suddenly made her realize what Jet had done. He'd been playing them. Even outright stating that he was using mind control. Pyrite cursed herself.

Pyrite crouched down in front of her, seeing eye-to-eye. "Howlite, can you hear me?"

"Clod damn, why didn't you finish the job, you fool?" Howlite asked, but she wasn't able to hear the other. Even Pyrite hadn't heard what Howlite said. She groaned angrily, her patience ran thin. "Poof me! It feels a thousand times worse living through this!"

"You're trying to say something." Pyrite's eyes widened in realization. "You've been trying to say something the entire time! But I can't hear you..."

The golden Gem placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, which Howlite roughly shook off.

"Oh, now you're being nice to me after throwing me the hell around!" she glared, the crushing pain her chest wasn't fading. She vented her frustration on her. "And I was about to kill you. And so close too. I'd still do it!"

* * *

 _Sigh..._ Jet hovered over the city. _Those two are just inseparable. They're like Ruby and Sapphire, except different._

 _And their fusion... if Garnet could fuse with another Garnet... Damn. Well that can't happen anymore. Good for me._

He spun around, staring down at the four Gems that have arrived. Among the four was Pearl and he glowered in response to that fact. Immediately, he zoomed past everyone, only targeting Pearl, and shoved her against a brick wall. Which was a few miles out of the city's perimeter.

 _'You still come,'_ Jet studied her. _'Are you blind to what you're doing? Onyx and Obsidian could end you. And I... can do a whole lot worse.'_

"You're going to destroy the world," she spat. "Not gonna sit on my bum while you do that."

 _'I destroyed Lapis Lazuli. Controlled both your minions to fight each other. And the idea of my existence resonates within the Crystal Gems now.'_ Jet replied, pulling her up. She squirmed, and he kept her face looking straight into the thin slits on the mask for his soulless eyes. _'What I do to you, or your team, I have in my control. Threats won't do much at this point. It's inevitable, you're going to die.'_

"Sounds like a threat." Pearl placed her hands over his arm, trying to wriggle herself out.

For some reason, Jet's arm burned at her touch. He stared at his arm, which felt like it was disintegrating. After Lapis broke it, he didn't want another injury. He slammed her against the wall, knocking bricks out. The pain still evoked through her hands, so he tossed her aside, confused.

 _'What was that?'_

"We all have weaknesses," Pearl huffed, getting on one knee. "All of us."

Jet flashed back to when Onyx got hit with the same burning thing.

 _'That... That Gem weapon...'_ he said through clenched teeth.

The fusion looked through her mind, and it was all a bunch of random numbers. It was all connected, because... it's actually a reading of the million numbers of pi.

"Can't find anything?" Pearl asked with a smirk.

Jet roared as he stabbed her through the shoulder and chest with his talons. And she poofed. He spun on his heels, ready to propel himself back to the city to confront the other Gems, before a whisper landed in his ear.

"It's a great trick, really."

Jet scowled and he pulled the person over to him with telekinesis. It was Pearl, still intact, not looking like she had poofed. There was no change in her clothing, and no sign of his stab marks, so she had utterly fooled him with that other Pearl.

"It's easy, using a hologram to hold our weaknesses. You actually thought it was me," she taunted. "Hah, the Crystal Gems shouldn't have to fear you. If it's this easy to trick you, then we could totally destr—"

Jet used one hand to grab her by her forehead and crush it with a resounding crunch.

She poofed. No Gem.

Frustrated, he grunted irritatedly, flying back to the city without a moment's hesitation.

He only spot two Gems there. But there were four. He took out Pearl, which just seemed to be a modified hologram, so that means there should be two. Unless one of them had fled or gone hiding or were checking up on Pyrite and Howlite. Those two idiots were still in his curse.

Jet hovered a good twenty feet in front of them. The two Gems decided to act.

"Alright," the rocky one stood broadly. "Stand down or I will take action."

The older Gem glanced at him, before setting his eyes on Jet.

 _'You first,'_ the fusion retorted, _'It's only fair.'_

Jet flicked his fingers and a huge gust of wind threw everything back. Debris, vehicles, metal and rubbish flew at mach speeds, even Hematite, the bulky one, was flung like paper. Only Moonstone seemed unfazed by that.

 _'Hmph,'_ he said, focusing on the old man now. He pointed a finger at him. _'Bang.'_

Moonstone didn't flinch. He stood his ground, all the while Jet's telekinetic influences weren't affecting him. Jet narrowed hiseyes under his helmet, floating over to Moonstone with his hand still outstretched. He doubled his efforts, concentration strong, but the geezer didn't move. The dark aura in his mind was pushing against the bearded man, when suddenly, once in his radius, Moonstone lifted a hand.

He brought it over Jet's chest, similarly to how he was doing to him.

The geezer responded, "Bang."

And with a light shove at the fusion's chest, like a soft palm tap, an explosion of physical force sent Jet's body flying uncontrollably, skidding against the gravel road like a rock skipping over water. A shock wave shook the whole city block. He felt as if a wild and violent force pushed him at an astounding magnitude.

Jet smacked into a car, his momentum being slowed. The car still veered immensely. It was away from its original spot by a few paces.

He was greatly surprised by what the old man accomplished. A single concentrated point of force that made his chest feel like exploding. He dropped out of the car.

His body flopped onto the ground, his hands clenched into fists as he grogilly got back up. He did not want to chew more than he can, after his battle with Lapis, he did not want to lose any of his limbs. His shoulder leaned forward, the other side hurt by the attack. He blew out a puff of air.

 _'Old man. Do I know you?'_ Jet asked from five blocks away.

Moonstone scratched his cheek, his moustache was raised one side of his face from irritation. "Yes," he said, "You do know me."

Jet glowered. After a moment of realization, he figured out his identity. _'The legendary Moonstone. I've heard stories of you. Never seen you in person. I don't know you personally.'_

Moonstone's eyebrows raised in mild surprise. "Good."

A hex bolt swirled in Jet's hand, an energy coming together and forming a dangerous mass. He threw it, and it curved at Moonstone, who didn't move. But when he did, it was quick, and it was once when the hex bolt steered close. There was no explosion. But he dodged it? So, why...

Jet narrowed his eyes in confusion. Something's not right.

The fusion stepped forward, throwing another hex bolt at Moonstone, and again, the old geezer did the same thing. He kept trekking forward, this time throwing the bolt at his feet. Moonstone stepped forward, spun, and slashed the curving hex bolt in half. Jet's pace hastened, and threw three swirling hex bolts at the Gem. Moonstone started speeding forward, hex bolts bursting the ground behind him. The two headed straight for each other, the ground or surrounding buildings blowing up as Moonstone remained unfazed. Jet gritted his teeth.

Moonstone got into a stance, striking him in the shoulder while he dodged his growing talons. Jet gasped as he felt bombs set off where Moonstone touched him, and then the old Gem slammed his forearm against his broken arm, and kicked him behind the knee. Explosions rattled through his body, power just swirling through his nervous systems and burning his mind. What the hell was this old man? There was so much force in his small dabs! Too much...

Moonstone tapped his back and Jet toppled over. A light kick to his stomach and he felt like he had a hole in it. A smack to the head and a bleeding migraine. Twirling his arm against his back, Jet's bones felt like dry wood. It can't bend, it snaps. Moonstone kicked his legs and they were in lava. They felt like explosions, all of Moonstone's attacks. Explosions of concentrated force that magically came about.

Then, Jet realized how he was able to do it.

The legend of Moonstone was that he was able to overcome any opponent. To strike back with all his enemies' wrongdoings. Jet remembered how much force he expelled against Moonstone, and one shove from him, his body felt like it was being pushed by a comet. He threw hex bolts at him, and each attack felt like nerve-striking explosions.

Moonstone was absorbing and redirecting his attacks.

 _'I know how you do it,'_ the fusion said. _'I know how you're besting me. I know how to beat you.'_

Moonstone smacked the back of his head. Jet felt his own hex bolts disintegrating his head. The old man pulled his arm harshly and a crackling noise could be heard. Jet growled at the pain, his arm broke again. Moonstone's grip was still kept on his wrist.

"You remember how you destroyed that Lapis Lazuli's arm?" he inquired, eyes narrowing. Jet twisted his arm telekinetically, breaking it further, so much that bones started disconnecting from each other. Moonstone stared aghast at the fusion's self-destructive antics.

 _'Oh, I know.'_ Jet answered, vanishing from Moonstone's sight. _'I remember her vividly.'_

Everything went dark around him, like lights flickering off in a hallway. Everything he felt was numb. He was blinded, deafened, and he couldn't feel the floor. Moonstone was floating in an abyss. He maneuvered his way around, but that didn't matter because he wasn't in reality anymore.

He continued to float in an existential crisis, his thoughts floating off into nothingness.

He was numbed.

He didn't know how much time passed, he had no sense of it. His balance, direction, nada. Moonstone, in all his age, hadn't encountered this. He felt younger. Naive and incompetent. He wasn't old in this state of sensory deprivation. He lost his sense of logic.

Then, a voice boomed. For a long while, he finally heard something.

 _'I know Lapis. I've seen her last dreams and the look on her face as she died. I saw her body mutilated_ _and her Gemstone turned to ash.'_

Everything came back to him. He remembered what was happening.

 _'You want to hear her screams?'_

* * *

Jet gave a huff of excruciating pain, glad it was done.

Moonstone stood alone, looking down with his eyes devoid of life.

It was a quicker battle than he thought. Jet thought it was because of his impatience and his newest low. He'd almost lost to Lapis, Pearl (he thought she still had the upper hand, as she's still not around) and Moonstone. His tolerance for fighting lowered when he starts losing, then he decides to end the fight early. He clutched his dislocated arm and walked away.

The old Gem was left to contemplate horrid visions and echoes of the dead.

Jet brought his hand up and gathered Lapis' shards through his mind. His concentration wavered and so did the mental image. He dropped his hand to the side and started mending his bones together.

 _Ashes to ashes._ He thought. _Born from dust, die as dust._

His senses went haywire, and he spun around, grabbing something in the air. He could feel a presence right in front of him. From his telepathic investigations, this Gem was invisible.

 _'Ah ah ah,'_ Jet wagged a finger around, his other hand twisting the Gem's wrist. _'What made you think you could sneak up on_ me _of all people?'_

Jade crumpled quickly, a shade of green starting to form out of her pain. Jade's camouflage started to deteriorate, her invisible approach wasn't going so well. Jet threatened to open what was in her clenched hand. Slowly, her fingers start to uncurl themselves, and suddenly, Jade brought down her mask and puked acid over him.

It was basically corrosive Gem energy. It started to melt off Jet's physical form.

Damn it, another fool who exploited his weakness.

Jet stumbled back, wrapping himself in dark fire and removing the green acid spit off. Jade put her mask back on, tugging on her katana. Instead, ninja stars slipped into her fingers and she struck him with sharp, penetrating stars.

The fusion grunted deeply, whipping his arm out and smacking her into a building. Under his feet, he could feel the Earth shaking. Now what? Did that green Gem have some kind of connection to Earth, and if she dies, Earth dies? If so, he should kill her now, and make his job a lot easier.

The vibrating went up to his legs, shaking so much like an earthquake.

Then, a large body popped out of the ground, grabbing Jet into a bear hug. Hematite's molten body seared him, but it wasn't the central cause of his pain. His suffering came with Hematite's strong arms were like a vice, crushing his sides. Jet's head fell back in anguish, his spine ground into dust.

Before he could further react, Jet was plunged deep into the Earth's crust, with Hematite leading the way with his spine-crushing lock. The two dove deep under the underground, Hematite tunneling through miles of dirt in a minute till they reached magma. Jet's eyes widened in surprise, trying to get out of Hematite's grip as they plunged deeper into lava.

His skin burned.

The lava was slowly melting him. Soon, he'd be a mesh of himself.

Jet struggled against Hematite, the bulky Gem wasn't letting go. He was obviously fire-resistant, not showing a hint of any damage. He never wavered. A medieval knight's loyalty till death, he supposed. They wove through the thick liquid, yellow blinding their eyes. Jet tried to push, but the pressure and weight of lava crashed over him. He was sinking deeper and deeper, when he was supposed to be floating over lava due to his lower density. Hematite was pulling him into the light, relentlessly.

A hex bolt was forming out of his hand, and immediately exploded on the touch of lava. The shock wave opened up a bubble of air, which Jet flailed his arms in. He was getting tired. He felt a giant presence. Was it the core of this planet? No, it was something else. It felt like a Kindergarten, full of unborn Gems. Jet kept that at the back of his head as he tried to escape.

He shot hex bolt after hex bolt, draining away his energy, shooting everywhere to give him space. After a while, Hematite fell in a big, closing space of an air bubble, with Jet on the opposite end. The air bubble was closing on itself, thinning and growing taller. It wanted to escape to the surface. Jet floated over, his armor melted and his cape gone. Half of his mask was gone, and so was that part of his face.

Hematite looked up at the deformed state of the fusion, sneering.

"You're trapped here." he stated.

 _'Do... Do you not understand physics? This air bubble is sending us back up. Slowly, but surely.'_

Hematite stood upon lava. "You're not going to survive very long."

 _'You're right,'_ Jet confirmed, his body was melting from the heat. Even after being submerged in lava and treated to hot air, it was _still_ hot enough to slowly melt away every molecule of his body. Maybe even turn himself into lava, since it was just molten rock. But he wasn't going down alone. _'But, ya know... you're not going to survive any longer as well.'_

Hematite sunk into the lava to flee, but Jet pulled him up with his telekinesis.

 _'I think I'm gonna start a collection.'_ Jet informed, his consciousness fading gradually as he spun Hematite around. _'A collection of Gems. Gonna hang that around my neck. Like decor. Sucks, I'll have to find all of Lapis' remains after this.'_

Jet closed his fist.

* * *

Pyrite and Howlite rushed over the glowing hole in the road, their curse lifted off a moment ago. They immediately went over to the battlefield, already knowing that Jet didn't have any control over them and they were free not to fight each other.

Pyrite harshly grabbed Howlite by the shoulders, desperation etched on her face. "We have to fuse!"

Howlite was about to refute, when Pyrite exploded.

"I DON'T CARE! Jet will be here, and he's going to kill us and the whole world. Do you think I _care_ about your stupid pride?" the golden Gem growled angrily. "Howlite, think, we are going to die. Everyone is going to die. This is our _only_ chance—"

From their side, a man dressed in what looks like a dark blue leather suit, with golden gauntlets and boots, blurred his way next to the hole. There was an air of friction, a static feeling, bringing up the hairs on the back of their neck. His glowing white eyes inspected the hole, before glancing at the two Gems. He had no mouth, or well, his mask had no mouth.

The speed demon made a deep noise from his throat.

"Maybe-Maybe he could help us?" Howlite stammered.

"Get out... or stay and fight..." the speed demon told them, his eyes glaring bright.

Pyrite kept an icy stare at Howlite. She stared down into the hole. "There's no way we can beat him without fusing."

"But..."

"Pearl would want us to beat him. She put us on the front lines of defense because she either thinks we're their best hope or she wants to get rid of us quick. If we beat him, we'll prove either way that we're important." Pyrite's tone was serious. Howlite decided she didn't like this side of her. "Isn't that what you want? To look important in front of Pearl?"

Howlite gulped down her pride, sighing audibly. "Hypr would look important. Not us." she told her.

"Without us, Hypr wouldn't exist anyway." Pyrite argued.

CRASH! Jet skyrocketed out of the hole, his whole body messed up from the magma. He had a dark, grayish, stone hovering around him. He looked around, one eyes glancing face to face. His telepathy gave him their names. Emerald, Pyrite, Howlite. The latter two finally found that illusion, and the former one was new.

 _'I kinda wanted to have you Gems as some sort of trophy, but,'_ Jet jerked his thumb at the black gemstone. _'It doesn't look as colorful as I thought. Looks bland. Maybe you guys have brighter colors.'_

Pyrite grabbed for Howlite's hand.

The speed demon glanced at the pair of Gems, then at the fusion. There was a feeling of misery he had upon realizing he had warned Lapis about this. And she had walked straight to her death. Crack, shatter, dust.

Howlite had been silent. She was scared. Not because she almost died, but because she saw her teacher standing a block away, not doing anything but standing, and looking like he had gone through some kind of trauma. Whatever happened to him had to be extreme. If Jet could put someone like Moonstone into that state, then she knew this fusion was a Gem of impossibilities.

Pyrite hadn't seen this side of Jet. He was vulnerable. Half of his body was just basically destroyed. It made her confident. Eager to fight someone, but with a fair footing. Maybe a fusion against fusion type of thing. She could probably stand up to him now, but she knew he could do a whole lot more than that. There was a risk she was going to take, and it was going to decide the end of the world or the end of Jet.

 _'Really? No one up for volunteer? No one wants to see their Gem ripped out of their bodies? No?'_ the telepath kept asking. He sighed, taking the harder route. His last warning for them to stand down was gone. _'Fine.'_

He snatched the Hematite Gem out of the air and felt its energy coursing into him. It glowed red, energy going up Jet's arm, and he started to change. Their vision of him molded back into his original state, no harm done. Everything was back to square one.

He knew about absorption. In fact, Onyx's Gem was the reason Amber learned of it. Now Jet needed to power himself if he thought correct, because two of the Gems were thinking of a "Hyperion" fusion, while the speed demon had a blank mind.

Pyrite's confidence dwindled. He was back at full strength. There's no telling what he could do.

The idea of fusing seemed a lot more appealing to Howlite now.

Jet knew his regeneration was a lie. He's still hurt. All he received from Hematite was energy to keep him going. His real body was damaged from lava, concealed with illusion and mind games to keep them down. He was sure he'd gotten too overconfident and the fusion Pyrite and Howlite were thinking about would be too much for him. He felt like he made a mistake. That was not a good idea to plant in their minds to become despaired. That always led to desperate measures.

He knew if that happened, he'd be overwhelmed. No joke about it. They're getting close to beating him, they're even learning how to use his flaws. He'd be dead, he didn't think they'd become this much of a hazard. Unless... Yes. He had a backup plan.

The speed demon didn't want any dangerous competition on this world. And neither did he want Lapis' death to be in vain.

Pyrite and Howlite could feel the tension in their chests. They were about to explode. This feeling of static and dread was mixing badly. It was a concoction of stomach flips and shaky hands.

Jet laughed. He had this all figured out. He didn't care if they fused or not, they couldn't make that much of a difference.

The speed demon narrowed his eyes.

 _'Why don't you two fuse?'_ he demanded conceitedly. He got this. His arms were brought up in a "come at me" fashion. _'So that I can get a real challenge. Something to beat up and utterly demolish your hopes and dreams.'_

 _Everyone's counting on us._ Pyrite realized the weight on their shoulders. She didn't notice that she was holding her breath. _Their hopes in us. We cannot lose, not when seven billion people have their lives at stake._

"Howlite," Pyrite ordered, "Come on. Let's give him what we wants."

Howlite flushed, her ears heating up. Pyrite wasted no time to feel shy or humiliated, and went on with the dance. They stood apart, slowly grooving into the middle, as they mirrored each other's poses. They were silly, and seemed comical, but their movements were swift and in sync.

The speed demon and the dark fusion watched incredulously, the latter one having his mouth shaped into a small "o".

They finally closed the gap between each other, and touched their fingers together. They glowed white, their separate Gems hovering in the center, then their bodies melted into each other and shaped itself into a nine foot tall woman. Her height towered Jet, but it didn't matter to him.

The new fusion regained color.

Her aviator jacket had rolled up to her elbows, the silver gauntlets fitted to their forearms. Over her white shirt, was battle armor that had faded color, but still shone and reflected. Her leggings were were still skinny, but not to worry as gladiator boots were nicely worn over them. It seemed from their clothing, that they had compromised with each other to have the gladiator armor and civvies on.

Her golden yellow hair wasn't like Pyrite's nor Howlite's. Spiky hair flowed backwards over her back, as two thick strands of hair curved over her eyes like bangs. Her eyes were gray, stormy and mysterious. Her skin was as pale as cream.

Her serious and silly demeanors were fused together, and on her lips read her personality. Cocky. Bold. Arrogant. With abilities like hers, the growing power of Pyrite's and growing energy of Howlite, combined they had become a warrior this universe had never seen before.

She gave a wide smirk at Jet. New confidence overrode in her with a new feel to her limits. She was feeling conceited for a reason. And that's because she knew she was going to beat the hell out of Jet. Pyrite's and Howlite's fear disappeared and became her urge to fight, a calling for battle!

Jet felt something different about the fusion, and he didn't like it.

"HAHAHAHAA! All right!" Hypr laughed, joyous she was back again. "You wanted me, you got me."

* * *

 **A/N: I like how people are still concerned over Garnet and Peridot. Well, uh... if you are and are still following this long story, thank you. It means a lot to me. You honestly got a lot of determination. You'll be *eventually* rewarded.**

 **I might tear your favorite character to bits, but that's okay. Everyone has that situation at one point in their life. I mean, I'm still crying about the time Apollo got punched in the face by muggers. And that book still hasn't been released yet.**

 **People freaked out about Lapis last chapter. Now, I'm sure I could've done a better job at preparing and building up tension to her... you know. Death. Seems out of the blue now. I've been mentally exhausted.  
**

 **Now I've finally showed what Moonstone can do, gave a new fusion, and... actually, seems like that's it.**

 **And yes, I know. Her name's Hypr, short for Hyperion. Why no E, you ask? Well, it looked cool back when this was first thought. So it stuck with me.  
**

 **Anyway, I'll see you next chapter!**

* * *

 **Breaking News: It's a play on the phrase "Our hopes and fears". Not really a phrase, more of a sentence. But "Our Hopes In Fears" actually means that we're putting hope into the Gems that have once been feared. They were part of the Rogue Nation once. They were once villains. So, that's why the title's like that.**

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Nightmare Persona"**


	38. Chapter 36: Nightmare Persona

**Chapter 36: _Nightmare Persona_**

* * *

Lapis Lazuli was her name.

It was intricate and beautiful. But it now meant power and strength, the high tides and the weather changer. A hurricane, tsunami, a harbinger of storms. A herald of destruction.

The depressed gemstone floated in a sea of white, blankly staring at the ceiling. If there even was a ceiling. White just stretches out till infinity, and it boggled her mind where she was. She's probably deaf again. But at least, she still has her arm and her body still intact.

She had hallucinated seeing horses walking around and fishes swimming around her. Maybe even a big pink figure, but she had only then realized she was going nuts.

However, it was the mirror all over again. She was trapped.

This time, she had no way to see. Her mind switched off and meditated on this prison.

Was she destined to be chained? To be trapped? To always be jailed in some way?

Grimm Reaper visited her. His dark cloak contrasted the bright white in this realm. He seemed distracted by it, not used to such luminosity. There was this new feeling to him, instead of death. It was like he was the single darkness of this realm, the only opposing thing that had condensed energy opposite to this realm to balance the neutrality. It was like he and this realm were rivals. It was weird. Was this realm Life?

The ocean Gem didn't mind that the personification of Death was standing right next to her.

She was more worried about everyone concerning her life and what might happen if she wasn't there for them. If she wasn't there for Steven, Connie, or the Crystal Gems. Hell, even Pearl. Would it be for better or worse? And was this realm her personal hell?

The Grimm Reaper didn't need to speak. It was like he transferred knowledge directly to her brain. She understood this place as a bridge dimension of the Gems' souls that were in a comatose state. It was complex and difficult to understand, but the simplest way she could tell it was like this: When a car breaks down, you send it to a repair shop. But the repair shop doesn't have any repairman, so you're stuck there, waiting till a repairman comes and fixes your car. So you could drive again.

It was a dumb analogy, but it was the first thing she thought up of.

Lapis didn't know why, but she told him, "I thought you'd be taller."

It was probably the loneliness and paranoia talking.

Grimm Reaper wasn't offended by it, rather genuinely amused. She was calm, and he liked that. There was a peace and tranquility in her, like she already adapted to her surroundings. Yet, when he taps into her mind, it's a frantic chaos and an undignified mess. He steered away from it.

The Grimm Reaper turned a one eighty and faded into the whiteness, disappearing from her sight. She turned her head back in front of her, continuing to look at the bright ceiling.

Lapis' eyes widened as she found a green Gem just standing around. The blue Gem could only see her back, but her yellow triangle hair and short height could only mean one thing to Lapis. She knew this person. The name was just on the tip of her tongue. This mechanic left Earth half a year ago. She also helped during the collapse of Dexterity Castle and Kronos Quad. She was Steven's friend, and was an official part of Team Gem Squad.

"Peridot?" Lapis called bewilderedly. She thought it was another hallucination, the probably seventh time it's happened so far.

The green Gem jumped and turned back with wide eyes, like she had been caught doing something illegal. She shrugged the tenseness off her shoulders and leveled her breathing.

"Hey, Lapis," she replied almost nonchalantly, her former anxiety gone.

Lapis kept her head up, black eyes staring into Peridot's lime ones. She had so many questions right now, but the most prominent was: why was she here? Unless, she was in the same predicament as her, which was a horrible ordeal to go through.

"Did you..." the water witch squinted, trying to remember what happened. "...have your Gem crushed into dust?"

"No," Peridot replied, shaking her head before looking confused. "I'd... rather not talk about it," she informed, scratching her side. "Did you?"

Lapis looked to the side. "Maybe."

"Lapis Lazuli, what happened?" Peridot demanded urgently. She dreaded hearing if Amethyst or Steven got hurt. She was worried, concerned about them, her eyes told Lapis all that. Peridot was _not_ worried about Lapis, but her own friends. Lapis didn't mind it, she wasn't even that concerned at all that Peridot was here with her. But it did make her realize how even she, the strongest (unfused) Gem on Earth, was reclusive to a lot of people.

The blue Gem frowned as she recalled the events to her death, and fast-forwarded everything before that. She remembered the anguish when fighting Jet. She knew Amethyst and Steven wouldn't survive that kind of power. Not without her.

And she failed.

"I got killed." Lapis answered, her chest felt like it was bursting upon confession. It was a hard pill to swallow, that she died in battle. It was a realization that she could just stare off into the whiteness about. "What happened to _you_?"

"Nothing," the green mechanic replied, her small hands nervously playing with each other. Lapis narrowed her eyes at her, and Peridot knew she wasn't going to get no for an answer. "Well, I mean, something did happen. I... kinda messed up."

"Is Homeworld invading?" she asked in a grave and calm tone.

"No. No... heck no." Peridot exclaimed, a bit angry that Lapis thought she doomed them all. "Of course, I'm not stupid enough to waltz into Homeworld without plan. They think Earth's the problem, but I concocted a wild goose chase." she smirked at the end, leaning against the glass between them.

Lapis' eyes widened. She didn't notice the barrier between them before.

"You see, I was late on the trip to Homeworld. So, I figured it was better if I landed on a desolate planet and destroy my ship rather than go there empty-handed. Call for help. Get retrieved then. Excuse my tardiness because I crash landed somewhere. Mistakes were made, right?" she gave a sneer and shrugged, "Another great thing is that the planet I specifically landed on had great produce of pheromones that would make anyone become uncertain, confused. I knew this, avoided it. Others were wary, thought I went rogue. 'Cause I acted as if I didn't go to Earth in the first place. Made higher authorities think that I went to Earth, safely trekked a desert planet, peacefully went back, only to crash land on planet confuser and get my head messed up. Now, they think I have no memory of going to Earth, but that place has nothing to offer now that I safely went back and reported fake deserts."

"That's very convenient." Lapis remarked, looking down at the mechanic's yellow-tipped feet. "Where's your tech?"

"Eh. We can't bring stuff here. Like how you don't have your leather jacket anymore." Peridot pointed out.

Lapis reached up and touched the barrier between them. It was a wide one, they were still far apart, even though both were already leaning against it. The blue one concentrated hard, and the barrier between them cracked.

"Woah, what..." the green Gem muttered.

Lapis put her hand back, which the barrier responded by hastily mending itself together.

She shook her head. "I don't understand it either." the ocean Gem admitted.

"Even if you manage to break that, what would that do?" Peridot asked, resting her arms against the invisible barrier.

"Nothing," she simply replied. She took a deep breath before pacing around her side of the white space. "This... realm is just another prison. But it doesn't have the same laws of science that keeps us who we are in the real world."

"No shit, Sherlock." the short one retorted.

"Whatever happens here is just... a time-waster. A game... with... no reward. There's nothing."

Lapis got down and sat on the floor.

"Yeah, I guess," Peridot said, looking around at the whiteness. "When you put it that way."

"We're not dead, are we?" Lapis questioned, looking down at the invisible floor.

"If you're dead, then I am. Which I'm sure _I'm_ not." she informed.

"I'm not dead..." the ocean Gem sighed. Death itself visited her. Maybe this isn't real, and she was in denial. Why would Peridot be there or hallucinated horses and fishes if it was the last of her collective gemstone's consciousness? Wouldn't it be someone like Steven to talk to her? It might be sad for her to realize she would be talking to her memory's representation of Steven, but it would be a bittersweet end for her at least. So, this couldn't be death, could it?

She slammed her head against the nearest wall.

Lapis Lazuli will never know.

* * *

Back on Earth...

Hypr turned to the speed demon. "Hey, you mind if I kick his butt and never let you have a turn?"

"...Go ahead..." the speed demon hesitantly replied.

Jet narrowed his eyes at her. "Hypr". He read the name in her mind. Why didn't it have the E? Wouldn't it be better called Hyper? Or maybe, just Hyperion, like they originally called themselves?

"C'mon, Jet, your move." Hypr said arrogantly, giving him a thumbs up. An aura of confidence radiated from her. Her playful smirk made Jet sick.

 _'Thanks. No harm done telling you two to mindlessly fight each other, right?'_ Jet asked with a sneer in his voice _._

"Alright, you wanna play _that_ game?" Hypr lowered her body, before springing at him. She grabbed him by the cloak and flew with vigorous energy into the darkness of space. The clouds ran by them, they exited the atmosphere, feeling a change in air pressure.

The brightly-colored fusion tossed the dark one into the vastness of the deep black. Jet stabilized himself immediately, using his telekinesis to keep himself in place.

Zero drag force. Inertia would go on forever in space.

Getting knocked out here was dangerous. They're bodies would fly in constant motion if they didn't stop themselves. It was a good thing they both had the ability to fly, or else they would be flung into the corners of space. A cheap move.

There was no sound in space. They were all deaf at this moment. But like Lapis, Jet could still communicate through telepathy, reading the other's thoughts and easily replying the same way.

Hypr's eyes were void of the enthusiasm they had on Earth. Now, they were serious. There was an ice cold stare in her eyes, like they were actually going to kill him. Or it might be that space was naturally cold. Nevertheless, the glare she was giving him right now felt sharp and calculative. Her eyes softened and that rugged smirk came back on her face.

 _I heard you have telepathy._ She thought, shrugging her head back proudly and crossing her arms. _You could use that. bat Or you could just block it off and never listen to my voice. spiked bat That way you won't be distracted. spiked bat smashing your skull You'll be fully focused, and you won't hear me. splatter all over the walls Good idea, right?_

 _'Yeah,'_ Jet narrowed his eyes. Hypr was talking to her, but she didn't have much experience with hiding her thoughts. So she was envisioning his death by splattering his brains all over walls with a spiked bat in between calm sentences. And he could see that. _'...I'll stop reading your thoughts so you can strategize easier. Sorry, but not gonna bite that one.'_

 _Hah, bait kill moon I wonder... space cool awesome ...Can you hear that? Sorry. I can't... blood pain death ...seem to quiet my mind. use spiked bat to Character flaw, I guess._

Jet almost couldn't understand what she was trying to tell him. It was so conflicted with other thoughts, he thought she actually said, "use spiked bat to character flaw, I guess". But no, those were two separate thoughts fused into one.

 _You hear me? angle of eye socket Are you still there? fifty degrees eye into brain_

 _'Yes, I hear you,'_ Jet answered. _'You AND your psycho thoughts.'_

Hypr shrugged. _Sorry. screw you assless twarp Can't help it._

Jet sighed.

 _Just don't listen to me. lalala beep lalalaa Easy as that._

The dark fusion opened his palm and made a hex bolt. Hypr's disgusting smirk grew wider, anticipating it for too much time it seemed. Jet kept his mental image stationary, and moved forward. Hypr didn't react, still thinking Jet was standing there. He got a few feet in front of her and positioned the hex bolt in between her eyes.

If they were on Earth, there would be a loud explosion.

Hypr flinched, but didn't seem too damaged. There was a glint of her aura wrapped around her, acting as a shield against those attacks. She swayed her arms to her side, before pushing them forward, focusing on a single point. Energy swirled from her aura and came together into a white ball of mass.

 _My turn._

Hypr closed the gap between him and her instantaneously, holding a ball of energy in one hand and the other closed into a fist. She clocked Jet upside the head, stunning him for a moment, before making an uppercut with the other. Her fist exploded into his chin, sending him hurtling away.

Jet didn't have much fighting skill over the thousand years of experience he had. He was a powerhouse, he didn't get into a lot of close quarters combat... He just shot people and kicked them away like nothing. Get a few mental knock outs and easy wins. Hypr was not nothing. She was a wall of energy and power, a perfect fusion of a warrior on its own.

The dark fusion halted. It had been his twentieth spin before he stopped himself. He shot a glare at Hypr, who had that cheeky smile. He didn't like cheap wins, they weren't rewarding. But he had to do it anyway. He was losing his tolerance of getting in the process of being defeated.

 _Well then, that wasn't so hard, was it? dumbass_

 _'No,'_ He shrugged it off.

 _It's time you learned what it's like to be a man. being manhandled ha To lose, to be defeated,_ beaten _at your own game._ She told him as she crossed her arms.

 _'So, teacher, are you gonna spell that out for me?'_ he sassily replied.

She responded with silence, contemplating at him for a bit to find a suitable retort.

 _Yes. bat_ Hypr extended her arm and manifested a baseball bat her size, which was twice as big. It sprouted small blunt spikes around the tip. She aimed the bumpy end at him. _I'll spell it with this. finally here This is my stick. long and hard haha It's a real weapon, a shame Pyrite and Howlite don't know how to get theirs._

 _'What are you gonna do with that? Bash me in the head repeatedly and have my brains and guts splatter onto walls? Yeah, I read your mind, you've been watching too many human films.'_ Jet replied, clenching his fists. _'We don't have human anatomy. Best you get would be blood everywhere and my head shattered off like cement.'_

 _I guess the best would have to do. dammit why do you have to ruin things_

Hypr swung the bat in a wide arc. Since there was no drag force or friction, she was able to let it swing at full speed, almost breaking off her wrist.

 _I don't really need to use this. but i wanna Since I already have all I need to beat you._

 _'Confident, are we?'_ Jet tapped his forehead a couple times. _'I still have some aces up my sleeves.'_

 _screw your flacking aces You're pointing at your head._

 _'You don't have to question everything.'_

 _yes i flacking do_

 _'Shut it.'_

 _Stop reading my mind. flack you_

Hypr flew at Jet, hastily swinging the bat around. The dark fusion almost had his face grazed by the giant stick. It didn't help that she was nine feet tall, her speed hadn't diminished at all. Jet tried to control her actions through telekinesis, but her golden aura exploded upon the touch of his dark aura, taking away his choice of using telekinesis. He started blocking with his forearms, since Hypr got faster.

He avoided them, leaning his head back to dodge. His arms started shakig uncontrollably after a few hits with the bat. Hypr struck downwards, and he spun his legs away and kicked at her wrist. He followed up by kicking her waist.

She caught his leg by her side and spun her body, swinging him with her. Hypr used her other arm to hit his leg. Jet's thigh flared in pain and he leaned in, headbutting her. She didn't let go till the third headbutt. Jet made a hex bolt with an open palm, swinging his arm at her. Hypr caught a small instance of the powerful attack, and hurriedly countered with a small energy blast of her own.

The explosion knocked the socks off both Gems.

Hypr recovered quicker, immediately charging for Jet with a burst of energy. She zipped around a hex bolt, firmly planting her knee into his stomach. Hypr added more to the stunned Jet, punching his helmet then spin-kicking his neck.

Jet groaned, sliding deep into space to give himself a breather. He rubbed his aching neck, and cracked it side to side. Hypr put on a stance, her eyes serious.

The dark one heard a bunch of nonsense from Hypr's mind. _Dodge, knee, punch, kick. Guard up, kick, trick, backhand. Bat, swing, kick, swing, block. Elbow, kick, elbow, jump kick, swing._

Before he knew it, Hypr closed the gap betwen them _again_ , and threw a kick to his side. She raised her knee towards his stomach, and he blocked it with his forearms, expecting it to connect and hurt. Her knee didn't hit him, it was an inch away. Instead, she backhanded him while he was busy trying to defend himself from her knee.

Jet growled, berating himself from that false knee attack. It was a trick to let his guard down on other parts.

Hypr brought out her bat, immediately swinging for his head. Jet backed his head away in time, letting it graze the nose of his helmet. He didn't account for the deep kick at his shin, that almost broke it again. The shiny fusion swung her bat at his waist, earning a silent crunch of his armor. Jet gritted his teeth, summoning a hex bolt and slamming it into Hypr, who raised her bat quickly enough to deflect it.

Jet noticed a pattern. It was the same one she had thought of when he read her mind. That nonsense of vague fighting patterns was being repeated against him!

 _What's her next chain?_ He demanded inwardly, recalling her words. He remembered. _Elbow, kick, elbow, jump kick, swing._

Jet deflected her elbow away, but was still caught by a kick. Hypr slammed her elbow into his waist, leaping in space and knocking his chin up with a high-knee strike. Jet stumbled back, while she clamped her hand over her head, readying her bat. In the corner of his eyes, he watched her arms swing over her head and the bat got into a downwards motion.

An explosion of pressure emanated from the two.

Hypr's hands were clenched hard around the bat, struggling to push it down. Jet looked at her in shock, before smiling, then laughing in her head. A bead of sweat rolled down her chin.

 _'You think I'm gonna let you have the killing blow?'_ Jet inquired with a wide sadistic grin. His pupils shrunk, leaving only red dots in its wake.

Blood rose from the back of her throat, gushing out her mouth. Jet kept his talons in her stomach, piercing all the way through. Hypr's fingers unwrapped themselves from the handle of the bat, the stress fading away. Jet's helmet split in half, the force of the last attack finally making its mark. His face revealed itself, dark eyes with bright red pupils, and a melting smirk, like his drips of his skin had melted over his lips and left him looking like he was wearing a biter mask. His dark skin was seemed to connect with space, becoming blue, purple and black with trace hints of white and yellow.

 _'I'm always one step ahead.'_ Jet announced telepathically. But whenever his mouth opened, it was an abyss, like a black hole. His armor started shattering, but that only added to his joy. He was revealing his true form.

Hypr's glower deepened. Her bright eyes were bursting with unkempt energy. If she tapped into it, she could explode right there. Unleashing a wave of golden power from her silver energy.

She bared her teeth, slowly placing her hands over his talons. Jet's laughing conceded, his grin falling to a frown. His smirk was traded in with Hypr, and now she was grinning widely.

 _Laugh it up. jackass_ She thought to him. _You let me fuse. big mistake You're gonna get what's coming. even though i planned we fight on the moon but youre too much_

Hypr dug her fingers into his talons, gripping it in place. Jet winced.

She started to glow gold. She exerted energy twice as much as before, redoubling her efforts again to display her show of power. Her aura shone brightly, giving light miles away from around her. Her grip shattered his talons apart. Her hair flew upwards from the exertion of energy, blood rushing all over her body.

 _If only I could yell, this would be more dramatic._ She remarked.

Finally, her body emitted a discharge of power, a giant golden ball of flames spanning miles across, overwhelming him and her. Jet could feel the pressure shift and the little changes in the space. He could hear her power howling across his ears. Air would be his first thought, if it wasn't for his body being broken apart into pieces. His blood evaporated and his skin started ripping apart violently. He was being eradicated by Hypr's power.

Jet screamed, his melted mouth horrifically opening up and opening up cuts and wounds. Hypr focused her giant golden sphere of power at Jet, pushing her arms forward in his direction, and flushing out her supernova attack into him.

In a matter of seconds, what's left of Jet was gone.

Atomized.

And those solid molecules were vaporized.

Hypr panted heavily, the golden glow of her skin fading away. She glared in Jet's direction, keeping her eyes on the lookout for any sign of him. It didn't seem like he made it out, since his Gems would've been eradicated as well. There was no regenerating after that.

A silent moment of realization came to her.

She had killed the most powerful being in the galaxy. Did that make her the most powerful being in the galaxy now?

She was too exhausted to think.

Hypr dropped down to Earth. The deep blue sky and misty clouds gave her a warm welcome, reminding her of what view she had fought to protect. It didn't feel much rewarding to her, since both Pyrite and Howlite... didn't respect it. Maybe if the planet died for a few years and came back to life, they would admire it more. Pyrite was of Homeworld and was stuck here, Howlite was of royalty and had been kidnapped here for leverage. They had their biases.

Hypr landed in the city, on the same road the battle took place in. The speed demon saluted her and zipped away. Moonstone snapped out of it, and chuckled her way. Jade picked Hematite's Gem up and nodded at Hypr. Then, Howlite's dream came when Pearl dropped down from nowhere and gave a proud smirk at her.

"I didn't think you'd fit the bill... but you actually did it. You beat him. You beat Jet." Pearl declared, looking up at the nine foot tall fusion and giving her a warm smile. "Earth is... safe. But..." Her joy fell, turning to look at the city's partial destruction. "...people aren't gonna be happy about it."

"They're always not happy," Moonstone deadpanned.

The corners of Hypr's vision started to fade to black. She was passing out. Her energy levels were depleted from that one blast in space. She was using reserves now.

Jade held her up. Hypr didn't even realize she was falling.

"Woah, big shot. Don't die on us now." Jade told her. Funny, she never spoke to her before. Maybe the fusion gained a new level of respect from them.

"Nah..." Hypr realized that was the first word she said after being in space and deaf for so long. Her real voice amazed her. "...'m just tired..."

"Well, take a rest." Pearl advised, placing a hand on her shoulder. Hypr reminded her of Garnet for a moment. Two shorter Gems fused into a tall one, with their abilities perfectly made for each other, and still fused while passing out.

The fusion's vision blurred, and the last thing she saw was the ground. "...oh... 'kay..."

Hypr didn't feel herself slamming onto the road.

* * *

Jet floated in front of Hypr, his new form shimmering in the sun's rays.

It was just a hood and a cloak, with a darker than black body that sparkled starlight. You could say he was drenched in glitter. His helmet and armor had fallen off, and only his eyes could be seen from his dark body. His red, piercing eyes stared lazily at Hypr's unconscious body, which floated in space.

His new state had signified the unleashing of his full power. It seemed boundless. But he knew there was still a limit in everything, even for him. This "nightmare" stage, as he called it, was total mental annihilation. It was his full capacity to telepathy and telekinesis, but his hex bolts were still a tricky part to create. Now, he was more in tune with the universe's forces, maybe even summoning a nightmare dimension could be possible.

Hypr didn't unfuse. She looked dead with her bright aura gone. The only thing giving her any show of the life she had was sunlight.

 _Stupid._ Jet chided as he formed his armor back over him through telekinesis. It helped him with the defense, which he had proven to be useless without. He was almost like a glass cannon, except it needed a specific hammer to break it.

The dark fusion flew away from the other fusion and went back to the city, knowing that there was a Gem in particular waiting for him. He couldn't make anything from him, even his mind was a blank.

"The speed demon" was the only thing he could get from him.

* * *

Steven sat outside of the hospital room, inwardly livid.

He had shattered a vase and broken a metal pipe. Nurses had to check up on Connie while walking around him like he's a glass cannon. They told him to wait outside, and he did, just with a guiltier, depressed look. In his mind, he had snapped. A little part of him died inside.

His mother was gone. That little bit of realization and reflection...

The human hybrid sighed, weakly dropping onto those white plastic seats that stuck to the wall. He glanced at the people around, some with angry looks, some crying, others sad or guilty. He could feel the emotion of despair in that hallway. The intensity of hopelessness made his stomach flip.

His head hurt, he couldn't get the thoughts out of his head. It was noisy. Something in his head clicked and he began picking up the mood of souls.

The young man a couple of doors from Steven was leaning against the wall, angry because he felt like it was his fault for something tragic to his mind. A wave of high adrenaline hit Steven. The teenagers to his far right were crying because they hadn't encountered such an emotional experience before, all their sadness just bottled up and gushed out in this moment. Steven looked up at the lights, his senses seem to black out randomly. Then there was the pain filled in the hospital rooms.

God, their _pain_.

Steven held a scream in his throat. It came out as a painful cough.

He looked around, dazed, watching as people suddenly looked better. As if the weight on their shoulders were ridden of. Steven felt a sharp pain in the side of his head, and something leaking through his nose. He wiped it off, and his thumb was stained with blood.

The demigem contemplated at himself, then to the people around him who were suddenly... _less_ sad. He could see it in their eyes. His sense of emotions started fading, and he felt like he went blind or deaf for a moment.

He took a moment to adjust to his senses, blinking for a bit, before his ears started realizing how much noise surrounded the hospital.

 _'Yes, Steven. That was you.'_

The demigem jumped, his arms went to his side. The soft voice echoed in his mind. He'd heard it before, during Lapis' training and before he destroyed Amber's gemstone.

 _'You felt everyone's emotions in that hallway. Stimulating, isn't it?'_

"My nose bled," he whispered.

 _'Aneurysms,'_ the voice replied. _'You took away people's emotional burdens for yourself to feel it. You would have some minor... what is it called? Uh... discontentment?'_

"I felt people's emotions. So, I took their feelings and dealt with it myself?"

 _'You healed them, Steven.'_

"Why hasn't this happened before?" he demanded quietly.

 _'Emotion is key to your powers. We don't know what you can achieve. You're the wild card, Steven. Master your powers, and these abilities will come to you like riding a bike. You can be the best of us.'_

The demigem stood up immediately. "No. No, I'm not. I'm not the best. I never was. Lapis and Peridot and the Crystal Gems are."

 _'You don't know how special you are... You are the only Gem and human hybrid. There is nobody like you before. You have potential to be better, Steven. Better than humans, better than Gems. You just have to believe in it.'_

He frowned.

 _'Believe in yourself, Steven.'_

The voice faded away.

Steven stared at the ground, feeling bitter. The person who took great care of him died. He discovered more of his powers that he didn't want. And his ghost mom talked to him about being the best, _again_ , when time and time he proved that he wasn't. He wasn't able to save Connie from a coma or Lapis when in her only moment of fear and danger. He was tired of all this. He didn't want it.

* * *

Kyanite could teleport.

It was only a last ditch-effort move because she hadn't mastered it. She never used unless she had prayed several times beforehand and was in a dire circumstance.

She was now.

Travelling through dimensions, she never figured out the key to pinpointing a location. She gets lucky sometimes, and more often she gets to random places. Once she entered this dimension, she fell through a complicated fabric of reality, and chooses that warmth in her to bring her back to reality.

And during her trip in that shortcut dimension, she could see other veils of dimensions that she couldn't normally sense. A white room. A dark room. Hell. She focused on going back to reality, where she could get a better grip of time and sense.

She was unlucky.

Kyanite dropped into a morose Steven's arms in a hospital. Everybody became surprised by the magical entrance, others try to ignore, but the protestors and the ones that hated Gems shouted for her to get off the kid and get out of the hospital. Their shouts fell on deaf ears, as nurses told them to calm down. They weren't calm, just silently fuming with distrust and suspicion.

Some nurses were good, Kyanite deemed. Not discriminatory of her.

"What are you doing here, Kyanite?"

Her face went hot as she realized her arms were draped over his shoulders, their noses about to touch. Steven didn't really like that position and lightly shoved her off. He was royally pissed off, she could tell by that physical action. There was so much held back rage. The demigem could've easily thrown her against the wall, or even out the hospital, but he kept it in him.

Kyanite backed away nervously, feeling a bit awkward from that. "I, uh... tried to get to Onyx."

"Onyx?" Steven grumbled, not making eye contact with her. "You mean, _that_ Gem?" he said with such spite.

Kyanite nodded sheepishly. She knew how much Lapis meant to him. And it didn't help that Onyx was to her what Lapis was to Steven. Onyx was like a mother to her. Her mother just killed his mother.

"I-I'm going to... out th-the hospital... to the spot." she stammered a bit.

"Take me with you."

Kyanite stared at him bewilderedly. He didn't know that Onyx was her mom, so it wasn't like he didn't trust her. She knew that, and revealing that type of information to him would do exactly as she proposed. Steven wouldn't trust her, or he would cut off all relations from her. And it was hard already to talk to him, when he'd been stuck in the hospital for a month. They didn't have much interaction. She didn't want to make it worse. She didn't want to make him look at her in another way.

The daughter of his mother's killer. It wasn't a good label.

"Uh... no," she told him before she could realize what she had done. Steven's eyes had that cold, callous feel in them.

"I'm not asking, Kyanite." Steven said, his voice deep and completely engulfed in rage.

"No, no... You don't need to be there."

What a stupid response.

Steven wasn't amused. " _Why_?"

"Because..." Kyanite stepped back. "...you're not in a condition to fight. That anger would probably kill you. Believe me, I know. I've been there. You lose sense of yourself. A chunk of humanity gets lost in rage. You fight more sloppy. Then you'll do something you'd regret." She was spouting bullshit faster than she could think. "I'll finish this. I can make it better. I'll... I'll talk to her. Peaceful stuff."

He had that murderous look in his eyes now. She could tell he didn't want to let the Gem that killed Lapis off scot-free.

Hastily, she faded out of reality without any warning, and ran her mouth a goodbye. "I gotta go. Bye, Steven. I..."

And she vanished right in front of him.

Steven's day wasn't getting any better.

* * *

Jet's form shimmered across broad daylight.

The speed demon's intense glare up at him didn't waver. He was waiting for Jet to come down and face him like a warrior. The fusion's cape billowed in the air, swirling around like a stream of ink. Jet pulled down his hood, revealing his cracked helmet. The speed demon stayed wary on the ground, waiting...

Jet finally slammed onto the ground with buckled knees, shattering the ground beneath him. The speed demon wasn't impressed.

Jet got back and stood his full height, only being inches taller than the black-outfitted Gem in front of him. There was a terror between the two; the static and darkness clashed, making the space between them look blurry. Emerald smirked, arms spread wide arrogantly.

"Well... here I am..." his deep voice growled.

Growing impatient, Jet didn't want to spend precious time fighting him, but he wanted to see what he could do. So, he demanded, _'Hit me with your best shot.'_

"My best...?" the speed demon dropped his arms to his side. His body started to blur, vibrating at such speeds that the intense sound of spinning helicopter's blades resonated around him. "...Alright..." he said, as if humoring him.

Then he sped away.

Jet waited for him to come back.

 _Maybe his ability was running away?_ He mused.

Then, within the next split second, an infinite mass punch was delivered to his jaw.

Jet was blown away from the force, hurtling over seven street blocks. The speed demon skidded next to him, before speeding away again. This time, he came back faster, slamming his shoulder into Jet before he hit the floor. The fusion could only realize it was a bad idea to underestimate him.

As he flopped in the air, a third punch came running down his spine, sending him skipping over the concrete ground. The speed demon sped over to him, grabbed him by the collar and raised his free hand.

"Listen to me... Homeworld is going to be worse than this..." the speed demon warned.

 _'Emerald. Your name's Emerald.'_ Jet choked out.

The speed demon didn't want to aknowledge the name. He vibrated his hand at the frequency of air, and shoved it into Jet's shoulder, disassembling the insides of it. Jet screamed in pain, not knowing that torture like that existed. If shocked him enough that he actually did scream in reality. But the speed demon didn't care about that.

"I'm going to do worse..." he threatened, "...listen to me... you're not going to destroy Homeworld... if we could create... anti-Gem technology on Earth... then so can Homeworld..."

 _'The suit keeps you from destroying everything around you. Your speed could rip this whole planet apart.'_ Jet kept digging into his head. _'Without it, you wouldn't dare go this fast. If you do, then all your work would be for nothing.'_

The speed demon was shoved away by his telekinesis. He skidded against the floor, his soul feeling pushed away by some heavenly force.

 _'Seriously... that's your weakness? Sounds familiar...'_

Jet growled, deciding that he was already too impatient that he broke apart his armor into little pieces, letting his senses of the world rise. His senses heightened, and his ability to control was not hindered by his defenses. He sacrificed his defense for offense, which he thought was better for him. He was already overwhelmingly powerful to them. More would be overkill.

Perfect.

* * *

Pearl held the Gem destabilizer in her hand, contemplating at it. As far as she knew, Lapis had sacrificed... ugh, that word... Lapis killed herself fighting Jet. Moonstone's trick was no use. Howlite and Pyrite fused and were still beaten. Even the speed demon that threatened her entered the battle. This was serious.

"Pearl," a voice called from behind.

The white knight turned and saw the three Crystal Gems stepping up to her. Amethyst had a new look, Ruby and Sapphire didn't look much different except for a few things. There was a new light in Amethyst's eyes. She was focused, determined to defeat that nightmare monster Jet.

Pearl glanced at all three Crystal Gems, who held their hands out. Ruby took hold of Sapphire's hand, and the cold Gem took Amethyst's. Pearl gazed at Sapphire and Ruby holding each other's hands, then at the new leader of the Crystal Gems who nodded at her. Ruby's and Amethyst's hands waited for her.

Her cold pale hands took their warm ones.

* * *

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Your Illusion"**

 **Breaking News: Jet has a Nightmare Persona.**

* * *

 **A/N: I have to get these out before _Captain America Civil War_. How did time pass by so quickly? I was only having a week of tests! How did that screw up my sense of time? It ****felt like it was just yesterday I updated last chapter!**

 **Am I actually going crazy? Is that it? Cause I can't write anything on this story anymore without it being long as heck. God, that voice in my head just doesn't like 2K documents anymore. It's all telling me at least five thousand. How long has it been since my last 2K word chapter in this story?**

 **I... I think I'm just going to slowly drop in word count. My addiction to this is going to be the death of me. Ughhh... my therapy would be decreasing words in every chapter.**

 **You know what, I left this here blank to hype up Alexandrite. (Yeah, not Garnet. But at least it's... something right? I mean, I finally gave you guys some Peridot, may it be a hallucination or not.) I guess... I'm just cheating off the Author's Notes for words.**

 **Just get hype for Alexandrite and Emerald next chapter.**


	39. Chapter 37: Your Illusion

**A/N: Seen the promo for Season 3. Looks like they're going IN TOO DEEP. Hahahahaha. Haha. Ha. Hmm... I just realized how far behind I am. Huh. I'm also late on the update too...**

 **Well, you guys are still reading. Good job on my part for finishing this. Well, onto the story! Happy reading!**

* * *

 **Steven Lazuli**

 **Chapter 37: _Your illusion_**

* * *

Lapis Lazuli. Hypr. Emerald. Alexandrite.

These four Gems were the ones Jet would remember on this day. He killed one, left the other for dead, the third one threatened him, and the last of them suddenly jumped into the fray. And from what it seems, Emerald and Alexandrite were going to work together to destroy him. The two had similar agendas at this moment, and it was to finally end him.

He wasn't surprised that it was the case. He loathed the idea. It was too good.

He couldn't read Emerald's mind. It was either too fast or there was nothing there. His mind would suddenly have a thousand thoughts an instant, before returning to a blank slate. Jet couldn't do with Alexandrite either. She was something different. Not like Hypr. She was a fusion of four different kinds of Gems, four different minds processing at once. They weren't perfect, but they were what could be managed. She had six arms, still unstable and imperfect. Jet found there was too much going on between them that he could not follow what Alexandrite would do in real time.

There were actually five minds in Alexandrite. Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, and the fusion herself. Jet just had to find out how she worked internally and he would understand how she did things. Then maybe, he'd win.

Of course he'd win.

Why wouldn't he?

There was no time for self-doubt now. Not when he's in too much deep shit. Self-doubt would be self-destructive at that point. He's killed and destroyed the minds of others, there wasn't going to be a reason they'd forgive him right there. He had to keep fighting, for his revenge and for himself. The Crystal Gems all bundled up into one fusion? That's perfect. He kills Alexandrite, he gets what he wanted. Them dead for what they've done, treating him like the enemy. Traitors, the bunch.

What point would he prove? Well, the point would be... don't screw with him. Ever.

Then, he'll destroy this world and Homeworld. Why? Well, for Homeworld, it's easy to say. That place was a dictatorship. It stinks and it reeks of genocide. He didn't want to see Yellow Diamond alive after what happened in the wars. A reason for destroying the Earth? He didn't have a clear one. He just wanted to do it as a sign of a new leaf. But wouldn't that make him commit mass genocide? Wouldn't he be a hypocrite for doing that? Was he the bad guy?

No.

There's no such _thing_ as good or bad. Nothing is absolute.

Even Rose Quartz was flawed. She tried to be better, but sometimes... the choices she decided to make turn out to be crap like this. She turned Onyx and Obsidian into this angry fusion. Jailed by your friends for thousands of years, locked in a prison made for the enemies you fought together with them. It was the ultimate betrayal.

If he destroys this world, his whole past life of fighting would be meaningless.

He would become the thing he had hated the most. And he had no problem with it. He felt he was destined to do this. He was the most powerful being in the galaxy right now. It was inevitable.

He never thought he would find serenity in this decision. He'd fought so hard for peace, but all he actually wanted was to become the reason it never lasts.

Right now, he fought to win. Alexandrite and Emerald aren't going to best him.

By the end of this, he might just make them kneel.

No. He didn't like it. Scratch that. By the end of this, he'll give them the mercy of death.

Destroy Earth and it will never see what he will become. Now that's mercy.

* * *

A few minutes ago...

 _The speed demon looked up at the "Knight-mare". The speedster's face was unimpressed again, no recognizable facial features of shock or despair. It was the mask that hindered his show of emotion. His bright white eyes glared at the sharp red ones, two threatening powerhouses facing each other off. Gem of speed and Gem of control. Both dark and brooding._

 _The speed demon lazily got up on one knee._

 _Jet stalked his prey, shoulders hunched and claws growing. His movements were beastly, his arms spread around his side to prepare for anything. His legs were spread too to imitate a beast's prowl._

 _The quick Gem got up on his feet, then cracked his neck and knuckles. He reached to his back, and pulled out two batons. The short sticks looked heavy and could give some serious solid hits. The speed demon twirled the batons in hand, walking around Jet._

 _With a burst of speed, the demon instantly struck the fusion across the face with a stick. It wasn't as powerful as Hypr's bat, but it_ still _hurt. All of his past bruises flared. Jet recomposed himself, but was still woozy, so the speed demon followed up with more strikes, spinning like a ballet of death. Jet grunted in pain, backing away as the speed demon got closer. He tried to block, but the demon's moves were efficient._

 _Jet finally swept out a gust of wind, stunning the speed demon for a moment. He took this opportunity to kick him in the chest, sending the green Gem flying into some streetlights. Jet rushed at the speed demon, flying over to him and readying a hex bolt. He slammed it against his chest, shoving him towards a building. SKRASHH!_

Think. How to beat this guy? _Jet thought._ He's fast. But he can't fly... Well. That settles it.

 _The speed demon recovered from the blast, getting up from the pulverized office walls he crashed into. Papers flew everywhere, electronic devices spurted sparks. The speed demon spotted the fusion flying over to the hole he made. He put his foot against the wall, giving himself an extra push to accelerate himself out of the building and at Jet._

 _He made a running dash. BOOOM!_

 _Glass shattered from the sonic boom._

 _WHAAMM!_

 _Emerald planted his feet into Jet, the momentum from his leap carried onto the fusion, causing him to crash into another building. Jet skidded across the office floors like he was the speed demon's skateboard. He tried to fling the speed demon away with telekinesis, but it didn't work. Something the speedster did hindered his use of telekinetic abilities against him._

 _Said speed demon raised a fist, vibrating it at a high frequency that the air around it started to expel excess heat from his energy, and aimed it at Jet's skull. The fusion reacted quickly, grabbing the Gem's wrist inches from his face with his two long-clawed hands. The speed demon prepared his other fist, but Jet said no to that and used his leg to slither around the speed demon's neck, pulling him backwards and restricting him from lethally attacking anywhere close to Jet's head. The fusion's leg was like a tentacle, or a snake. It didn't look like it had any bones from what he was doing._

 _Jet pulled the speed demon off with his anatomically incorrect leg, growing out his talons as they both got up. The fusion stood first, slashing his claws at the speed demon, who expertly ducked under them and kicked Jet in the stomach, who slid over a few desks and a counter. Jet rolled over the office desks, papers swirling around him. He used his telekinesis to thrash everything upwards at the air, which also meant raising the floorboards that the speed demon stood on._

 _The speed demon hung on to the floor, which was getting ripped apart from the building. The ground he stood on was hovering a hundred feet over the road now._

 _Jet was throwing him into the air, with no space to run._

 _Realizing this, the speed demon sped to the top part of the flying floor, dodging desks, papers and computers. He got to the top, preparing to jump for the building, before he got blasted by a few organized hex bolts by the dark fusion. His black suit smoked._

 _The speedster fell away from the falling office floor, and smacked into another building, his suit sticking to the glass. He looked back and caught a glimpse of a few hex bolts headed his way. With his amazing agility, he dodged them all, flipping himself over those attacks, which exploded upon impact. The building got screwed. But while avoiding the attacks, he lost his touch with solid matter. Nowhere to run. His body was going in a miserable direction, heading straight for the road._

 _Jet threw himself at him, tossing hex bolts around like no tomorrow._

 _The speed demon grunted, moving around the hex bolts that were aimed for him. The hex bolts were faster than he was falling, since his falling speed had nothing to do with his real speed, thus explosions erupted through the road. The speed demon put his arms out over his head like a cross, diving into the smoke cloud._

 _And then he vanished like a ninja._

 _Jet snarled._

 _He blew away the smoke with a sway of his powerful arm and found the speed demon rolling on the floor, getting back up, with his right arm injured from the fall. Jet brought his hands together, bending metal and concrete in the city's infrastructure to trap the speed demon, who easily got away. He was too quick for the dark fusion._

 _BRAMM!_

 _The city shook. The speed demon tripped and got caught by the ankle with a metal tendril. Jet felt a shadow loom over him from behind._

 _SMASH! CRUSH!_

 _The heavy footfalls got nearer. Jet looked down at the giant shadow under him, before turning to the enormous fusion._ _Pink and green was all he see. Six arms. Two mouths. She stood as tall as the smaller buildings around, which were twelve floors tall._

 _"Sup?" asked the giant, hundred feet tall, fusion._

'Shit,' _Jet thought out loud._

 _Alexandrite clapped her primary hands over Jet, letting out a huge shock wave of power. Glass shattered in a mile's radius._

 _Jet kept himself alive with a telekinetic bubble, defending himself from Alexandrite. He put his hands forward, shooting hex bolts over Alexandrite's face, dusting it up. She retaliated by breathing fire, overwhelming his smoke screen and attacks._

'Hughhh...'

 _The dark fusion left himself open to the flames, which pushed him into the ground. The intense wall of fire reminded him of when Hematite forced him into lava, melting his skin off. He hated that. Desperately, he struck a hand out, controlling the building next to Alexandrite. He threw his hand down and let it crash into her, so she ceased her fire._

 _Jet got up, his body smoking,_ _before immediately struck by a speeding Gem. He tossed and turned in the air, then slammed onto the ground at the speed demon's feet. His whole side winced in pain._

 _Jet grunted, making the concrete under the speed demon's feet melt. He, like Lapis, had control over matter at the molecular level. Lapis just had control over water, having it boil or freeze over at will, while he had control over_ everything _. If he mastered that ability, he would be unstoppable._

 _"RRAAGHH!" Alexandrite screamed, pushing the building back to where it's supposed to be. She started to squirm, glowing white, like she was starting to defuse. The speed demon went to hit Jet, but he realized his feet were stuck._

 _Jet kept his hand facing the stuck speed demon, and another at the glowing Alexandrite._

 _The telepath was expecting the one hundred foot tall woman to pop into four Gems. But instead, her physical form started shrinking, all the way till she was seven feet tall. Then, the white glow exploded into energy spheres around her that faded away. Now, Alexandrite was smaller, but still held the same amount of power as she had before. Amethyst's proficiency at transforming was showing, and keeping their power at the same level as their giant form was incredible._

 _"Jet," Alexandrite spoke. "Your end is near."_

 _The telepathic one shook his head._ 'No. _Your_ end is near.'

 _The speed demon struggled to get his feet out of the concrete, tugging and pulling at his legs._

 _"You're facing me, the amalgamation of the Crystal Gems." Alexandrite warned, "The strongest fusion."_

'Yeah, yeah. Lapis said the same thing.' _Jet replied._

 _A mixture of emotions ran through Alexandrite's mind when Lapis was mentioned. The four Gems had different opinions on the ocean Gem._

 _The speed demon vibrated his feet out of the concrete. He sneaked up on Jet, pulling back a vibrating fist. Alexandrite noticed, and kept talking._

 _"You don't have to do this." the brightly-colored fusion said. "We can work this out. Nobody else needs to get hurt."_

'No. This planet owes me.' _Jet told her._ 'You owe me. I'm not gonna stop till everyone here is dead. After that, I'm destined for greater things. The fall of Homeworld."

 _"Kyanite." she urged, "What about her?"_

'I'll take her with me. Thank you. Or did you kill her as mercy? Harvest her Gem? BUBBLE HER?' _Jet got louder and angrier at the mention of his daughter._ 'DID YOU—'

 _Alexandrite winced._

 _The speed demon shot his vibrating fist through Jet's midsection, phasing through his body. The dark fusion cursed wildly at the distraction, turning back to stab the speed demon with his claws. The speed demon moved away, bringing his whole arm out through Jet's side, shattering that part of his internal body._

 _The dark fusion screamed like a wraith. His ghostly wail made the two others' stomachs flip. They felt his pain..._

* * *

Now...

Alexandrite and the speed demon stood defiantly against the telepathic monster, a bit dazed from his previous attack.

The pair had all the advantages over this fight. They relied on brute physical attacks and their minds couldn't be read. They're best at his weaknesses. It would take time for Jet to warp their minds, since Alexandrite had five minds while the speed demon didn't have an easily influential one.

"We'll need to make a truce... to destroy Jet..." the speed demon said, rubbing his bad arm.

"What, you can't take him out yourself?" Ruby trash-talked through Alexandrite. The speed demon glanced at Alexandrite irritatedly. "Okay, sorry. Wrong time to do that."

"We have to use our physical force against him." the speed demon told her.

"Already knew that," Alexandrite replied, manifesting a bow out of her hands. She nocked an arrow into it. "You know you can use energy attacks too, right?"

"I don't have any..." he replied lowly.

 _'You Gems always talk out loud to communicate,'_ Jet held his internally wounded stomach. His eyes glinted. _'Have any strategic plans for me to hear?'_

The speed demon sped over to Jet and elbowed him in the face in the span of a millisecond. Jet grunted and bent all matter around him, letting them swirl in the wind around the speed demon, who was now smack dab in the eye of a debris hurricane. The speed demon tugged forward and got his head smashed by a wall of bricks.

 _'I won't lose...'_ Jet turned some of the matter in the hurricane into hex bolts. _'You can't win...'_

The speed demon had trapped himself in a dangerous tornado. But Alexandrite didn't.

SNIIP! An arrow punctured Jet in the head.

 _'You think that'll stop ME?'_ asked Jet, whilst grunting in pain at that attack.

The taller fusion grunted.

Alexandrite hopped over to him, the weight of her raw power cracking the floor beneath. With Pearl's skill, she threw a haymaker into his head, bashing his skull in, before tripping him with a sweep kick. Jet controlled the air around him and rose to the sky. Alexandrite followed after, using Ruby's and Sapphire's ability to fly and hover in the air. The darker fusion was surprised that she could do it. He pulled the arrow out of his smoky head and struck out at Alexandrite with it.

The colorful fusion snapped the arrow in two with a swift chop, before spinning and back-kicking Jet in the stomach. He laughed.

 _'This is the final chapter, Alexandrite. Remember me? Remember the battles we've fought together?'_ Jet managed to smile with his ever-changing mouth. It was either melted together, wasn't there, or just obscured by light. His murderous red eyes shone with contempt. _'I kill you. Or you kill me. Both ways, betrayal. Both ways... it's practically the end of the Crystal Gems. Rose is gone. Her armies don't remember. Pearl became estranged. We're the strongest remains of that team. And we're going to kill each other.'_

"Doesn't have to be like that." she told him. She didn't really want to kill Jet. But he'd changed so much from millennia ago that she couldn't believe it was still him. Still the same pair of Crystal Gems that fought by their side. Alexandrite knew she was lying to herself at that point.

 _'To get what I want, it will have to be that way. You won't stop fighting for this planet. Admirable. I won't stop fighting for what I want.'_

"What is it that you really desire?" Alexandrite already knew his answer.

 _'For you to die. For the idea of the Crystal Gems to cease.'_

His eyes were full of hate, stemming from the betrayal. Alexandrite knew she can't be forgiven for what the four Crystal Gems did. They treated Onyx like a stranger when she went insane after Obsidian's "death". Amethyst didn't really know her, but the other three shared a strong bond with Onyx and Obsidian, for being the most effective of them all.

"You're right," Alexandrite created a giant hammer out of thin air in two hands, and a flail in another hand. "This is the end..." she stared wistfully at the city below them through her shades. "... _our_ end..."

Jet's fists glowed white hot and red, his hex bolts being made out of the air. The sun was starting to set from this long afternoon.

 _'I've been fighting Gems who don't even have any part in our squabble. All leading up to the main thing, you.'_

"I'm flattered," Amethyst replied for Alexandrite.

 _'After I kill you, I'm planning to go see Steven in person.'_ Jet informed. Alexandrite disliked the idea, and her body language expressed it clearly. Teeth gritting, fists clenching and body hunched to leap for the kill. _'Spending some time with him. He'll try to kill me indefinitely. I killed Lapis, enough to spark the FIRE!'_

Jet threw his hex bolts at Alexandrite, who dodged all of them with speed and tenacity. She threw her flail out, rocketing a giant wrecking ball in Jet's direction. The telepath dove to the side, controlling a piece of a building and flinging at Alexandrite, who swung her hammer at it, crumbling it to pieces. She rallied her flail, knocking Jet from behind.

"What's the holdup?" Alexandrite demanded, twirling her hammer around on one side and turning her wrecking ball into a bow on the other. "You've had plenty chance to kill me."

 _'I'm_ tired _...'_ he grunted, aiming his hand at her. He gave off a swirling pulse of energy, that grew into a tornado. Alexandrite swerved aside.

"That's humiliating," Ruby said through Alexandrite, complete with Pearl's scolding tone. "I've heard better from you!"

Jet gritted his teeth, dark electricity crackling over his forearms and into his fingertips. His cape started drifting in the wind like ink again.

"MOM! DAD!"

Jet started splitting a bit. He looked down. _'Sweetie?'_

Kyanite stood on the building below them. Jet ignored Alexandrite and floated down to his daughter. The four-Gem fusion hoped it would give enough sense into Jet to stop him from destroying the planet and them.

Jet cupped his daughter's blushing face in his hands.

 _'It's been so long...'_ His red eyes gleamed as he read her mind. He'd seen it all, her life and her painful experiences. He could see what she saw all in an instant, and Amber's face burned in their mind. _'That supreme clod overlord... If I was there—'_ He stopped himself abruptly. He decided not to talk about it. _'...I'm glad she's dead.'_

Kyanite's face was hot with embarrassment, but she was still open to her parents. They were the only ones she could confide in with her secrets.

"You know you don't have to kill them." she told him. The tall fusion brushed his hands over short Gem's shoulders.

 _'Oh, honey... that's complicated. They bubbled you and left you in the hands of a_ yellow dictator _...'_ He grit his teeth when he said that, because it reminded him of someone else. _'...who continuously tortured you until you became insane. If that wasn't enough, they didn't try to take you in until you started killing humans. Now, the Crystal Gems aren't heroes anymore, dear. Don't you feel like you want to punch them in their perfect teeth?'_

"We don't need to," Kyanite replied.

 _'But don't you want to?'_ Jet asked.

The cyan Gem frowned. There was a small feeling, but that's it. She thought she was the one who was bad since she killed those humans.

 _'Bah! Those humans. You don't have to feel guilty about that.'_

"You can't kill the Crystal Gems!" she exclaimed.

 _'Why not?'_ That's when Kyanite realized she wasn't good at persuading people.

"Because they're Earth's protectors. We follow Rose. We're one of them—"

 _'We are NOT one of THEM!'_ He shouted, sizing her up. He stopped once he saw his daughter step back in fear, and he quieted his voice. _'Not anymore. Starting from now...'_

He looked back up at Alexandrite, who glowered that Jet was still determined to kill them. Kyanite gulped audibly, her chest rattling apprehensively. Jet looked down at the rooftop they were standing on, contemplating at his next move. His eyes stung.

 _'I'm sorry,'_ he told her.

"Sorry?" she asked.

He walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her head, letting her burry her face in his starry chest. She realized he was hugging her. For what? It was warm, and Kyanite felt vulnerable in his hold. She didn't want to let go. It felt so peaceful around him...

Alexandrite was too late.

POOOF!

The four-Gem fusion's eyes widened. "NNOO!" Alexandrite shouted.

Jet held his daughter's Gem in his hand, his eyes fixed on it. He held it gingerly, softly brushing his fingers over it. He began to hum a lullaby for the Gemstone.

Alexandrite's fists were clenched so tightly that her gloves started tearing. She leaped at him, then grappled his body into the building. They crashed through floors until they reached the ground. She pummeled him into the floor, every punch sending him deeper into his burial. Then Jet bent the ground around him to attack Alexandrite, creating spears and stalagmites from the concrete and metal, impaling the larger fusion in many different spots.

The four-fusion was stuck in place, howling in pain, while Jet bent the metal and concrete to stay around Alexandrite's body.

"You... MONSTER!" she screamed through her own pain, "How could you do that?! And to your own _daughter_?"

Jet's demeanor darkened again. _'You're in no position to say that, you traitorous scum!'_

Then VAAAMM!

The speed demon shouldered Jet away with so much force that he rocketed through walls and skittered across the ground.

"We're not doing enough..." the speedster stated.

Alexandrite painfully grunted in reply.

"We need to..." The speed demon turned to find Alexandrite in a painful situation. A lot of metal and cement was punctured through her body. "...oh."

"Ugghgh!" Alexandrite squealed sorely. "I'll—hnng... get out... somehow... You take—gAH... over..."

"Hmph," was his reply.

The speed demon went over to where Jet was, and started kicking him without mercy or warning. The dark fusion's mistake was losing his focus on his tornado trapping the speed demon, giving the speed demon enough time to escape and turn the tables.

Jet decided enough and blasted hex bolts around him, since he couldn't predict Emerald's speed. He managed to catch the speedster, and with that split second, Jet imprisoned him with melted tar. The speed demon's specialty was running, so if Jet turned the road against him, he would lose completely.

"Grrr..." the speed demon grunted angrily, glaring at the victorious fusion.

 _'It took awhile... my mind's been thinking of fighting the whole day, and my body's just as exahusted. It feels like weeks, doesn't it?'_ Jet said as he walked over to the speed demon, who was now halfway trapped under solid road. _'You're trapped. Nowhere to go now... It's okay, I don't need to kill you. But, you've_ damaged _me...'_

Jet crouched down to Emerald's eye level.

 _'Emerald,'_ he said, and the speed demon responded harshly to that name. _'There is punishment to those who don't abide the rules. And my rule is to never mess me. I'm going to destroy this world as a warning and rule the universe. And I don't think you'll survive the blast. Punishment enough.'_

The speed demon couldn't move, even breathing was a trouble for him. Luckily enough, he didn't need to do that. If he were a human... he'd be dead just from this trap.

 _'It's funny how much trouble you're able to cause me, and the solution to rid of you was right under my nose. Literally.'_ Jet stood. _'You're a good adversary. Shame that you don't have any other abilities than your speed. And also to tap into your full potential, you have to wear that silly suit of yours. I know, tachyonic particles and all that... you're a scientist blah blah blah...'_

The speed demon tugged himself, trying to get out of the tar by breaking the road. It would take him a long time. He tried to speed up the process by vibrating, but that didn't work.

Meanwhile, with Alexandrite...

* * *

 _He's too far gone._

 _We tried with words and still couldn't get to him. He must be stopped._

 _If we do that, then we're going to do what he wanted us to do. He wants us to imprison him again just like last time, with the same reason. He was too powerful._

 _It doesn't matter to our own ego if we win or lose. He has to be stopped._

 _Or he has to be killed._

 _He's too powerful to be contained, so yes. The only way to stop him is to shatter him._

 _But we can't._

 _We have to be strong, Amethyst._

 _We're going to destroy the last piece of the Crystal Gems, just like last time... which didn't work. It's not that we lacked the courage to destroy him, we had already done that. Instead, we must find another solution._

 _What do you propose, O smart one?_

 _There's no stopping him. It's too late to make peace._

 _We're having the same discussion again. We put it to a vote... do we kill him? I say yes._

 _Yeah._

 _No._

 _Amethyst?_

 _I can't decide..._

 _This isn't the time to be uncertain. Jet won't come back because we'll shatter him this time._

 _And prove him right? That we're always the traitors we've been?_

 _He never said that._

 _He can't win._

 _We have to kill him. We'll just have to bear the loss._

 _That mentality is too extreme. We'll kill ourselves if we do this._

 _It's just one time._

 _One exception._

 _Yes, it will be an exception. Then it will turn into an example. Then we'll have to make more exceptions. Until it just becomes natural to us. Then we become monsters. We have to have limits to ourselves. I thought you'd know that, Pearl._

 _We can't stop him if we're trying to restrict him. He'll kill us. There's no other way. Just the one exception. We have to kill him, or the world ends._

 _But he's our friend..._ _Would you sacrifice your friend for the entire world?_

 _That's cruel._

 _Yes. It is. But that's the decision you're making. We'll be traitors._

 _BUT THERE'S NO OTHER WAY. WE CAN'T GET TO HIM. HE'S ALREADY TOO FAR GONE!_

 _Stop it, Ruby! At this rate, we're going to fall apart!_

 _We have to make a decision or else..._

 _Jet's won. We can't work on this. The Crystal Gems are doomed from the start. If only Rose were here—No! What am I thinking? She's the reason we got to this situation in the first place._

 _It's not like you to blame Rose._

 _Rose is gone. And we have to take over and make the decision to save this planet. Isn't that what we promised?_

 _We're going to kill our friend to save the world._

 _But he's not our friend anymore... He's the enemy. And we burn our enemies._

 _We have to shatter him. No more holding back._

* * *

 _'No more holding back...'_ Jet repeated that. _'I guess they really are natural traitors. Damn it, I should've gone back to them and killed them instead of dawdling with you.'_

"JET!" Alexandrite's scream rumbled the ground.

The four-Gem fusion barreled through the building, knocking down walls and revealing her ferocity. She was battered and there were a few stray holes in her that she hadn't had the time to shapeshift away, as that would've cost more energy. Her steps were still dangerous, since she had the weight of a giant all huddled up into one ten-foot tall body.

Jet sighed. _'I know your plan. And frankly, it will_ not _happen.'_

"You've caused enough damage!" Alexandrite yelled. She brought out the most powerful shot in her arsenal, a charged light arrow. A bow materialized in the air as she pulled the arrow back. "We send thee to death!"

Jet solemnly lifted his head up to the sky. _'You're forgetting something.'_

Alexandrite glanced up, before a golden silver comet came crashing down between them, letting out a burst of energy. A sphere of flaming power erupted from the comet, enveloping a city block. Alexandrite stood with a few superficial burns, while Jet had a barrier around him. Hypr stood between them, eyes black and steaming.

 _'Your biggest fan, Pearl,'_ he deadpanned, _'She wants your autograph.'_

There were now three powerful fusions present in the same place. A total of nine Gems were on the battlefield. Emerald, Jet, Alexandrite and Hypr. Onyx and Obsidian from Jet; Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby and Sapphire from Alexandrite; and Howlite and Pyrite from Hypr.

"That's their fusion..." Alexandrite was at awe from their spiritual aura and energy.

 _Fiery._ Ruby mused.

 _Indeed._ Sapphire replied fondly.

 _That's a lotta power._ Amethyst thought.

 _And Jet has her under his control._ Pearl reminded them.

 _'Just give her your autograph, Pearl. And it'll all be over.'_ Jet informed.

"What game are you playing at?" Alexandrite demanded.

 _'You've got too much endurance and my dark matter attacks aren't gonna faze you. You're too fast, and you know my weaknesses. I can't insta-win. So, I've decided to get a puppet to do my job.'_ Jet flicked his fingers at the pink and purple fusion. _'Avenge my daughter.'_

"Avenge your... You did it to yourself! You're the one who—" Alexandrite stopped herself, knowing it wasn't worth it.

The floor beneath Hypr's feet exploded, and she rushed at Alexandrite, who dodged and went for Jet. The telepath slowed her down with the road, letting Hypr catch up to her. Alexandrite turned back and aimed her charged arrow at Hypr, releasing the string and letting it fly. Hypr wasn't in her mind, just a puppet, so she got struck easily by the light arrow. It pierced through between her shoulders, and a wave of energy pulsed within her.

Hypr started fattening. She was swelling up to the size of a balloon.

"Oh, no..." Alexandrite muttered under her breath. "My charged arrow conflicts with Gem energy itself... and Hypr has a lot of it..."

Hypr's energy went through the roof. Giant arcs of golden electricity started scattering all over the city block, all emanating from the golden fusion's body. Her physical form started ripping itself apart, skin tearing and showing off contaminated Gem blood. Contaminated energy. That stuff explodes for Gemkind.

There was only a matter of time till Hypr releases a dense wave of energy throughout the block. That could be devastating to Alexandrite and the speed demon. Jet could probably do something about it with his abilities.

 _'Look what you've done.'_ Jet accused nonchalantly.

With minutes to spare before the explosion, Alexandrite tackled Jet to the ground, continuously striking him with a flurry of punches. But Jet laughed it off as he struck Alexandrite in the side of her head with a ball of dense concrete, easily as tough as titanium. The thing shattered across Alexandrite's head, cracking her shades and making a few gashes. The four-Gem fusion roared and breathed fire as she stumbled away, missing Jet completely.

The air boiled. All matter dried out and turned to dust. Alexandrite could feel the heat emanating from Hypr. She was going to explode.

 _'You're getting desperate!'_ Jet stepped back from a punch from Alexandrite. _'I can tell!'_

Alexandrite grunted as she got a hit in Jet's nose, then slamming her forearm into his chest. Jet stumbled back only a bit, feeling confident, only to get kicked back with a compelling kick. That kick shattered his ribs. Jet's red eyes widened and gasped in pain, all arrogance leaving his face. Alexandrite followed with an uppercut with all three fists, before getting struck by a golden bolt of lightning from Hypr's explosive body.

Jet laughed, but he too got hit in the back with a stunning pulse of energy that resonated through the whole city. Pressure hit his ribs and he immediately went slack again. Pain flared through his body.

The sky was orange. Something happened that made the air around them turn into a tint of orange. Radiation from Hypr must have absorbed all light except for orange. The ground became akin to a wasteland's, while buildings started turning into dust without question. It was only for a radius of a city block, but still, the last three beings alive were still in the blast zone.

Dust was carried in the wind, causing them to hinder their vision.

Alexandrite got up, used Pearl's spear as a walking stick, and went over to Jet. She raised the blue spear, which was tinted yellow, and slammed it into the dark fusion's chest. It was close to where his Gems were, and he thanked the stars that it didn't actually hit any of them. Jet put a barrier of telekinetic energy around him, and shunned Alexandrite out. The lightning got harsher, the winds got drier, it felt like a scorching desert out there.

"HRAAHHH!" Alexandrite desperately smashed against Jet's barrier, successfully shattering it in one hit with her terrific strength.

Then, a speed demon had freed himself from the concrete trap and was able to get a hit in on Jet and carry Alexandrite to safety. Except, Alexandrite had the weight of a hundred whales, so all he did was topple her over, making it worse than better.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Alexandrite screamed through the winds, and even that was nothing conpared to the loud thunderous booms of Hypr's energy.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU?!" The speed demon almost lost his voice shouting that. He didn't use his voice very much, so it was scratchy and grave. His shout was almost incomprehensible through the winds, but Alexandrite replied.

"I'LL LIVE—"

KRAKAABOOOMMM!

The speed demon vanished, away from the blast radius, leaving Alexandrite and Jet around the now swirling tornado of energy. The dust storm was harsher.

 _'You won't live.'_ Jet told her, grunting as he laid in the sand.

The Crystal Gems' collective cockiness shone through. "Wanna bet?"

Jet grabbed her by the foot.

 _'I'll bet.'_

Suddenly, a familiar feeling surged through her body. Alexandrite recognized the feeling for some reason. But she knew she hadn't felt it before. This feeling happened during Ambergeddon, when Amber drained the energy out of Gems. Alexandrite could feel herself slipping away, the life force of four Gems rapidly fading. Jet was feeling better, hoisting up a protective barrier around himself.

Jet got up, which was harder than ever now that the gravity shifted. The city block was now a storm of chaos. And Jet had to get out of there. He flew, but he was still slow.

Alexandrite laid there in the dust, lightning burning up the ground beside her, making glass noises as it passed.

There was no way she could get through with her energy stripped away. She was gonna face the same fate as Lapis Lazuli. Death.

She couldn't believe it. After all their luck and what they've survived. It ended here.

Then.

Then...

Hypr exploded.

KRAAVHOOOOMMM!

The ground violently shook as a pillar of light erupted from Hypr, shooting straight into the sky. Silver lightning now plagued the area, with golden dust swirling around the pillar of light, which began to enlarge. It got wider, eating up the city block's space, and headed for Alexandite.

The fusion cast one glance at the light, before giving up, letting her body rest.

Hopefully, it would be a painless death. But with her luck, she somehow knew that wouldn't happen.

Her eyes fluttered, feeling heavy, as she began to get into deep sleep.

A tall pink figure jumped into the light in front of her, blocking the golden energy wave with a shield. Alexandrite gasped lightly at the memory. It looked so similar, yet so different.

 _Rose?_

Did she descend from the heavens to miraculously protect her from the blast? Or was she merely hallucinating? Time passed and the four Gems didn't know anymore, bracing for the inevitable impact.

But it never came.

The light died down, signifying the end of Hypr's massive energy release, which added color to the mysterious savior.

Large brown hair going down the waist. Pink shield and sword in hand. Tall. Red shirt with yellow stars on the shoulders and chest, a gray sleeveless jacket, a pair of gloves covering her forearms, and a pair of indigo shorts with pink boots. The Rose Quartz Gem was located on her tan belly.

Not Rose Quartz. This one had brown hair. Not Steven. Too tall.

Who was this savior?

The mysterious savior lowered her shield, glanced at Alexandrite and greeted a "Hey," with a carefree expression. The savior turned to Jet, who had stood unharmed from the blast radius, and furrowed her brows.

Stevonnie brought on an offensive stance, glaring daggers at the dark fusion.

* * *

 **Next Chapter's Title: "Xeno-Fusion"**

 **Breaking News: The fact you think the title's got something to do with the chapter is Your illusion. Hahaha bad joke. But really, this chapter title was planned for something else that's in the next chapter, but now it foreshadows Onyx. Not Obsidian or Jet. Onyx.**

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, guys! It's _Stevonnie_! The best kind of surprise is the hero surprise, am I right! Nobody likes villain surprises. Unless, the villain is a good antagonist, then people would probably love seeing the protagonist get tortured. Anyway, I'm hoping that next chapter would be shorter. Because... this whole arc was way longer in word count than expected.**

 **I need a break... but SU is coming back next month... and I can't stop myself and I'm impatient and this story is the reason I procrastinate... Wow, my life revolves around this. Come to think of it, rather sad.**

 **But c'mon. Stevonnie. Been a long time since I've seen her in the show and it's the first time she appeared in this AU. I get goosebumps whenever I think of how powerful she could be.**


	40. Chapter 38: Xeno-Fusion

A/N: Saw _**Captain America Civil War**_. Was awesome. And now I'm late again. _Really_ late. And I don't think the wait paid off...

* * *

Chapter 38: _Xeno-Fusion_

* * *

A tall woman held her shield against all odds and defended the weak.

Stevonnie stood in a barren wasteland, the soles of her boots feeling the crunchy sand. This felt natural to her for some reason. She felt as if she had walked on a beach her entire life.

Alexandrite lay beside her feet, silently glowing white. Her energy had depleted and the only way to survive was to ration the life force. It took less energy to stabilize four single Gems than a four-way fusion. Plus, Amethyst had held the fusion's shape for so long that it was stressful to even inhabit that body.

The fusion cut into four pieces, shaping into the Crystal Gems. Stevonnie stood in front of them protectively, standing strong against the weakened Jet. In the corner of Pearl's eye, she could see two gemstones glinting in the epicenter of the hot sand.

"Jet, that's your name right?" Stevonnie began with an innocent stare, before glaring and giving off a tone of authority. " _Stand down_."

At first, he was compelled to do as she had said, but he steeled himself. There was some kind of voice charm, but he knew that might've been a perk of being the son of Rose Quartz. But she wasn't a son.

 _'You're not Steven.'_ were the first words he said to them.

She shook her head. "'Course not."

He chuckled. _'You have Rose Quartz's Gem. What, is there some sort of new Kindergarten around? Or is this a trick of some kind? I've been fighting for hours and I'm getting restless... If you're not Steven or the Crystal Gems, you're dead meat to me.'_

"I guess that's what I am," she shrugged. "Dead meat."

Jet tried to tap into her mind, but he felt his connection bounce off of her. He stumbled back from the force of his mental concentration snapping. That never happened before. Usually, he would at least know what's going on, but he couldn't even access any kind of layer to her mind. It was like some kind of energy was repelling him. It wasn't natural.

The dark fusion tried moving her, but his dark aura (which is invisible to those who can't "see" energy) just huddled around her, doing nothing as it harmlessly rebounded off the air around her. That confused him. Sometimes, he would be confused at some random slang or something he didn't know about. But he was never _this_ confused. That person was not right.

 _'What are you?'_ he demanded. The Crystal Gems that were lying on the floor also wanted to know who their mysterious savior was.

"I dunno," she replied honestly. "There's never been something like me. I could tell ya that."

 _'I can already tell.'_ the dark fusion replied gruffly.

"I heard you have telepathy and telekinesis. Seems to me that didn't work out." Stevonnie informed, narrowing her eyes at him. The xeno-fusion flipped the legendary sword around so she could scratch her nose. "I think... I could propose a theory of what may have happened. My half human, half Gem biology might have somethin' to do with it."

 _'So, you are a hybrid. Steven is a hybrid. But you're not him. Who are you?'_

Stevonnie lifted her nose into the air, contemplating at the pale-blue sky. She hummed, trying to think of what to call herself. "What do you call a fusion of Steven and Connie?" she asked.

The Crystal Gems' faces were struck with shock.

Steven fused with Connie?

Was that even remotely possible? And wasn't she in a coma?

Amethyst didn't mind after a few moments. This was their chance. They wouldn't have to face death. She didn't care what convoluted explanation there was for this fusion, she was fine that the Earth wouldn't be destroyed and that there was someone new to talk to. A grin formed on her face as she proposed, "What about _Stevonnie_?"

"I was just thinking the same thing!" Stevonnie gave a cheerful and excited tone. She had an enthusiastic smile, and bright eyes. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah! Now go kick his ass." Amethyst shot a fist into the air, before it fell to the ground tiredly.

Stevonnie only noticed now the pronoun used for Jet. " _His_?"

"Yeah... _Jet_." the purple Gem said, not knowing why the fusion was confused. "Go kick his ass."

"Jet's a _guy_?" Dumbfounded, Stevonnie glanced at Jet again, before turning to the Crystal Gems. "He looks like a girl to me." Ruby's face showed concern for the xeno-fusion's eyes. "No, seriously! Jet looks like a girl. I mean, doesn't the hair and the curvy body structure give it away?"

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked pointedly.

"Well, I guess, he could be a guy. I'm not trying to give off any stereotypical or sexist view or anythin'. It's just that... he looks like a girl to me." Stevonnie said, unashamed of what she said.

"You said "hair"." Pearl noticed as she glanced at Jet, who didn't appear to have any obvious sign of hair. "He doesn't show any."

"Well, there's hair going out of his helmet, or is that not hair to you guys?" she asked.

"You see a _helmet_?" Amethyst pointed out. The leader looked and Jet was still in his starry form, where his physical form is all black (with a complimentary cape), and there are only two red eyes showing anything out of the ordinary. No helmet.

"Okay, guys... I don't know what you're seeing anymore. But I guess my human-Gem fusion is really giving me another side to this guy." Stevonnie told them.

Sapphire spoke up. "Jet's not there."

The rest of the Crystal Gems were puzzled by this.

"Again... _What_?" Ruby asked.

"It's just Onyx," Sapphire revealed.

" _Just Onyx_?" Ruby repeated. She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"It's _all_ Onyx. Obsidian's dead. He's not there. Only Onyx." Sapphire stated, glancing at the telepath. The Crystal Gems looked at Jet differently. Now that they think of him as Onyx, it was more terrifying that she was just one Gem, and not a fusion. "She's hallucinating."

Amethyst rose and shouted at Onyx. "If you're hallucinating, just keep the hallucinations to yourself!"

"She thinks they're real. She can't tell from reality and her own doing." Pearl said as she sadly stared at the dark Gem. "And she's putting all this on us. She's subconsciously affecting our minds, isn't she?"

"Stars, that's... _insane_." Ruby shuddered. "The amount of power... All of that? She just destroyed all of us? All _her_?"

Stevonnie stood there, still confused. "So... there's no Obsidian?"

"Obsidian is real. He died long before I met him." Amethyst shrugged, "I dunno. Memory's kinda fuzzy." She jabbed her thumb at Pearl. "She told me stories."

"It all makes sense now. Obsidian died in the war and Onyx went insane with power. We bubbled her, but for Obsidian, he was nothing. It wouldn't make sense that he's alive." Pearl recalled, "If he's all an illusion this whole time... then Onyx... she acquired his powers. And with the amount of power she showed us today, the result of that acquiring of power must've followed in gaining the power of their fusion. They separately can't shoot hex bolts, only Jet can."

"Absorption..." Ruby said. Her former teacher, Bloodstone, had used the ability a month back. "She must've used absorption to gain Obsidian's abilities. But... I've never... thought of it as some form of fusion."

"She hasn't moved," Stevonnie suddenly informed, getting their attention. Their eyes moved towards Jet. "She hasn't moved at all."

"She heard us. And she's realizing this." Pearl replied. "It'll take a while till—"

 _'NO!'_ Onyx screamed. _'HE'S NOT DEAD! HE'S HERE... WITH ME!'_ Darkness emanated from her form. Stevonnie raised her shield.

"Onyx! We can help you!" Pearl exclaimed.

Ruby shook her head. "I'm not helping." Amethyst assented with her. Sapphire glared. "She tried to kill us!" she pointed out.

"She's not in the right state of mind." Sapphire said.

"That's a load of bull," Ruby replied, "She wanted to kill us. That's _that_. It's her entire motive from the start, and it has _never_ wavered."

"Guys, this isn't the time for debate." Stevonnie told them. She turned to Onyx, who was fuming with dark electricity. Her red eyes were locked on Stevonnie.

 _'He's not dead. If he was, I don't exist.'_ Onyx said as if she were still Jet. _'How do you even get to that conclusion when evidence dictates that Obsidian is alive because I'm alive?'_

"Trick of the light," Stevonnie retorted, even though she knew it was actually a sort of mental attack against the others. But to her, all she saw was Onyx. She wasn't affected by these mental Gem attacks.

"Do you really need to fight—" Pearl was interrupted by Onyx.

 _'I am still Jet! Stop regarding me as someone else!'_ The telepath swished her arm at Pearl's direction, sending a gust of powerful wind at her. Stevonnie slid in and intercepted the attack with her shield. She whacked the energy wind across and let it reflect off her defenses with a shattering BOOM. The Crystal Gems and Onyx felt their physical forms distort like static when the shield hummed. _'What the hell are you?'_ Onyx spouted.

"I'm just a fusion of a demigem and a human. I already told you guys." Stevonnie replied blankly. Her brows scrunched up in concern. "Is it that hard to understand?"

Onyx roared as she charged at Stevonnie. The tired Crystal Gems leaped away for cover, before the two forces collided. Shortly after, a loud metallic BOOM exhoed across the battlefield. A triangle of dust surfaced over the circle wasteland. Stevonnie got up and raised her shield in time as Onyx swiped at it with her talons. Sparks of fire and light were struck free from her rampage. Stevonnie arched her fist back before swinging it at Onyx, knocking her down. The telepath tumbled across the dirt. While rolling, she took a tiny glance at Pearl, and launched at her.

Pearl hopped back as Onyx slammed the dirt before her. A sinkhole appeared where Pearl once stood, swallowing up the ground and growing wider and wider. Since that failed, Onyx kicked Pearl, who retaliated by grabbing her leg and swinging her at the ground. Onyx created a hex bolt while Pearl tiredly summoned her spear. The telepath threw her bolt, which was deflected by an incoming shield. The shield ricocheted off the ground and flew into the air, where Stevonnie caught it. The fusion landed on Onyx; kicking her square in the chest. The telepath skidded across the ground, slamming into a purple train.

Onyx's head dented the side of the locomotive, which rolled back and transformed into Amethyst, who clutched her side in pain. Ruby went for the kill, positioning her gauntlet at Onyx and fired. Smoke burst from her wrist and the gauntlet rocketed towards the telepath. Onyx redirected the missile into the sky, which exploded into a display of fireworks.

Stevonnie rushed in and bashed her shield at Onyx's head. The telepath dropped to the floor.

"We're done here," Stevonnie ordered, her magical voice cooing Onyx into forfeiting. But she didn't. "You've been fighting for hours. Give up."

Onyx replied by kicking the fusion in the shin. Stevonnie yelped in return.

"Alright," Stevonnie glared. "You _really_ want to do this?" This was followed up by her thoughts.I _really don't want to do this..._

 _'Come on... Even without my telekinesis and telepathy, I could still destroy you.'_ Onyx bragged. She rolled her head to her sides, cracking her neck. She smirked, thinking of how to tick the fusion off. _'Besides, Steven—Connie—_ Stevonnie _... I killed the one person in the world who you loved dearly. Lapis Lazuli.'_

Stevonnie winced at the memory. The kids' rage burned inside her. The fusion tried to keep it at bay. She wasn't them. She had no real conflict with Onyx, Steven and Connie do. And, Stevonnie never met Lapis Lazuli, so she never had any emotional connection... except for the fact she had every memory of her from the demigem and human. The xeno-fusion's eyes stung. She tried to blink it away. No matter how much she would put it technically, Lapis was Steven's mother... it still also applied to her.

 _'I could see it in your eyes. You're sad. But your expression tells another, yet familiar, story... Uncontrolled rage. I've seen it in many people's faces... I've been in thousands of battles. Trust me, kid.'_ Onyx sighed, _'Let it out.'_

After a moment of silence, the xeno-fusion realized what she was talking about. "Just like you?" Stevonnie responded gravely.

 _'Yes,'_ Onyx twitched. She knew the fusion was mostly referring to Obsidian's death and the rage she went into. But worry not, he never died. He's still with her. Onyx put on a battle stance, since she couldn't use the usual telekinetic attacks. She felt like she was gonna die here, she was pretty much useless in these grounded combat situations. But she wasn't gonna let her demise go down easy. _'Just like me.'_

Stevonnie bared her teeth. The decision had been made. Onyx put her foot down. It was time for Stevonnie to put down theirs.

She rushed at Onyx, using the edge of her shield to strike her down. Onyx threw a hex bolt into the air, before catching the shield with both hands. The hex bolt curved in the air and hit Stevonnie in the back. An explosion shook her body, driving her insides around. The xeno-fusion growled and let go of the shield, resorting to her fists. She had her sword by her side, but she thought using it would end the fight too quickly. She wanted to savor this moment for Steven and Connie. She wanted to really _punch_ Onyx. Never mind the burn in her back or the Crystal Gems shouting orders. Her opponent was the only thing on her mind now.

Her mind _was_ clear. It _was_ peaceful. It _was_ tranquil.

It still was, as she beat the hell out of Onyx with her fists. Blood spurred from Onyx with every hit, her energy leaking in flying white arcs. Stevonnie was relentless. The determined skill of Connie combined with Steven's potential strength made for some heavy-hitting, effective hits.

Onyx tried to shoot hex bolts at Stevonnie, but the fusion disarmed her before she could manage to even charge it. Once she raised her hand at Stevonnie, it was immediately knocked away or put into a hold, and occasionally ending up dislocating her shoulder.

Stevonnie landed a final right hook, which pushed Onyx back.

 _'Look at you go!'_ Onyx shouted, panting. _'Ha, ha... You're doing a better job killi me than Lapis L—'_

"NEVER!" Stevonnie shouted from within her soul, punching Onyx in the jaw so hard pieces of her metal helmet were ripped off. " _MENTION_!" A kick to the sternum dented Onyx's chest plate. "MY _MOTHER_!" Stevonnie couldn't imagine those words coming out of her mouth, but it had erupted from the heart. Even though she never met the water witch, she knew from her fusees (Steven and Connie) that she meant a lot as a mother figure. And this would be a memory for them to share. It would be a memory to make.

Onyx stumbled back and forth, keeping her ground. She bowed her head down, red eyes keeping watch on Stevonnie's intense demeanor.

This was a warrior she'd fall to.

Onyx brought her shoulder forward, keeping her hands back and charged with hex bolts. Her boots were planted firmly in the dirt. Then she picked the words out of her mind.

 _'She died dreaming.'_

Stevonnie tackled Onyx to the ground, taking the brunt of the hex bolts being directed her way, burning her shirt and skin. But she didn't care. Onyx kept flailing her limbs desperately. Stevonnie held Onyx's head to the ground, her knees keeping Onyx's arm and legs at bay. Her free hand was raised, shaped like a tiger palm, and aimed for Onyx's chest. Stevonnie wanted to destroy Onyx's Gem for what she had done, taking a life of a loved one from her. The fusion never met her... she _wanted_ to. And now she'll never get to do it. Because of this monstrous bastard.

The telepath kept desperately clinging... then stopped. She had accepted it. Her fate.

Onyx laughed, blood leaking from her... not really mouth. She had no mouth.

Stevonnie breathed heavily, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She tried to look for any point where her gemstone could be, but she couldn't think anywhere. However, any well-placed, penetrating strike would leave agony. So, she struck forth.

SKRRA-blrrggphh...

Stevonnie's hand struck through Onyx's chest, shaking the ground with deafening cracks, creating a giant hole in her body. Onyx reminisced how she destroyed Lapis' chest with a hex bolt, and the same was done to her now. Oh, the irony...

It hurt. Like hell. Pain flared throughout Onyx's body, then numbing it to a degree where Onyx couldn't take it. Everything felt warm. Too warm. She couldn't feel anything and could feel everything at the same time. She tried to lift her arms, but there was too much feedback. She was practically paralyzed.

Stevonnie's whole forearm was covered in her blood. Her eyes shrunk with horror with what she had done. The fusion toppled over the rocky floor, exhausting all her adrenaline on utterly destroying the dark telepath. They laid down, one having their legs over the other's body.

The xeno-fusion huffed.

 _'You didn't do it yet...'_ Onyx complained. _'Come_ on _...'_

"You're..." she panted, "...You're going to..." She was going to say "get locked up", but that didn't really fit.

 _'You reacted the same way I did when I lost Obsidian... full of rage.'_ Onyx remarked. _'And—'_

"But you haven't accepted it," Stevonnie bluntly interrupted, talking about how Onyx had denied Obsidian's death. She sat up. "Probably until _now_... maybe thousands of years after he died." she said coldly, checking her bloodied hands. Her features softened. "You can stop fighting, you know? We don't have to kill each other. We can just... _move on_..."

 _'No.'_

"No?"

 _'It's too late. I either die now... or... it's just gonna be the same.'_ Onyx rolled her head to the side. _'You kill me now or they kill me after. I'm too dangerous. They know that. If I try to run, they'll hunt me down. Go to space... Diamond Authority. They probably have enough anti-Gem weaponry to kill me. So, kill me or not... I'll eventually die out. Doesn't matter anymore...'_

Stevonnie frowned. Killing Onyx would be satisfactory, but that would do nothing to bring Lapis back. It would rather be counterproductive. Onyx was a powerful being. It would be a waste to not use that power for good. "What if... you help us?"

 _'Help you?'_ Onyx laughed. _'Just kill me.'_

"Stevonnie! You did it! You kicked hi— _her_ ass!" Amethyst cheered. "You beat, like, one of the most powerful beings in history!"

The Crystal Gems were still very far away, taking cover from the battle. They had expected shockwaves and fireworks, but the fight in combat had equally impressed Ruby and Pearl as it did filled Amethyst's theatrical bloodlust. At least, there wasn't anymore collateral damage.

 _'Your teammates are waiting...'_ Onyx groaned at the pain of growing numbness. _'Take the final shot. I'll poof. You can destroy my Gem later.'_

"No."

 _'No?'_

"I don't want to kill you," Stevonnie replied, mentally exhausted. Her morals were clashing against each other, but her innocence won out. The fusion was a blank slate, a new leaf for Steven and Connie. She hadn't killed anyone, neither Steven nor Connie had any memory of killing, so why start? Stevonnie scratched the dried blood off her knuckles. "I... don't have it in me."

 _'Young,'_ was her only response.

"The Crystal Gems decided to kill you. I thought... well, that was my plan." Stevonnie informed, looking at the scenery around her. It was full of ash the more she observed the grains of sand and dust. "But... I disappointed them. I think I did. I'm ashamed. Steven and Connie are too. I don't want to do it."

The Crystal Gems started coming closer. Pearl didn't like the chances of the reputation of Gems in the future. It was looking grim. Sapphire felt ominous, but from afar, saw somthing impossible that she didn't see happening. A catalyst for a new future was made because of Stevonnie's decision. Ruby saw Onyx's body still intact, and was tempted to yell, "she killed Lapis," to get Stevonnie to shatter her. But she kept it in. Amethyst just felt relieved that the conflict ended. She could live another day, waiting for Peridot.

Stevonnie kept talking to Onyx.

"I could convince them not to kill you," she tried.

 _'Stop trying. I made a mess. Time to get punished. Death is the worst punishment.'_ Stevonnie was about to comment how there were worse ways, when Onyx explained. _'It's a mystery. I'll probably stop existing. Or go to hell as you humans call it. Either way, I won't be here anymore, living. It's gonna be a reality. I'll be gone. Truly gone. Just like Obsidian. He is gone. He doesn't exist anymore. Not his soul, his smile or the light in his eyes... It doesn't exist anymore.'_

A glimmering trail left her eyes.

They dilated desperately, realizing how much she didn't know. _'I don't know what I was thinking... How did I accept this fate so quickly? I... Kyanite... I-I don't want to die...'_ The realization hit her and quickly bobbed her head at the fusion. _'Stevonnie, please... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I've done. All the people I've killed... I-I still can't let Kyanite grow without me... Please... Help me...'_

Stevonnie was surprised at the turn of events. She didn't know what relationship she had with Kyanite, but her tone made it seem like she was her caretaker. Just like Lapis was to Steven and Connie, how she would be to her. She wouldn't let the same fate she had been through with Lapis' death happen to Kyanite. Even if Onyx was Lapis' killer. What happened _happened_ , and it was better to accept that. Better to do good than bad. And Stevonnie couldn't let her morals down.

She wouldn't kill Onyx. She won't let anyone die while she's around. This was a promise she vowed this day.

"I'll help you, Onyx..." Stevonnie said with fierce determination. "I'll talk to the Crystal Gems. They'll listen."

 _'They won't,'_ Onyx whimpered.

Stevonnie stood up as the Crystal Gems arrived. Before they could speak, Stevonnie raised her hand out to them like she was the leader taking her turn. And with a firm voice, Stevonnie told them, "Do _not_ kill her."

Amethyst staggered back, surprised by the resoluteness in her voice. She was scared thst Stevonnie had been mind controlled by Onyx, or had turned to the dark side as a side effect of a human and demigem fusion. Sapphire, in contrast, was nonetheless unsurprised.

Ruby burst. " _Why_?!"

Pearl followed, "It's not a good idea to keep her alive."

"I'm not going to kill her. And _neither_ will you guys." Stevonnie firmly stated, her voice empowering their minds. It reminded them of Rose Quartz. "There's been enough damage."

"Yeah! Caused by _her_!" Ruby pointed at Onyx.

"And she won't do it anymore." Stevonnie said reassuringly.

"What makes you so sure of yourself?" Pearl asked, irked by this statement.

"I talked to her. And she's paralyzed from below the neck. I shattered any contact between her head and her body." Stevonnie glanced at Onyx's crippled body. "She won't be of any harm."

"Your decision may be heroic. But it is _naive_." Pearl remarked. "She's dangerous. A force to be reckoned with. The next time she has her full powers, what would stop her from destroying everything again?"

"Kyanite," she answered.

"She poofed her to kill us!" Ruby stated.

Stevonnie grunted. She glanced at Onyx who mouthed an apology. She looked back at Pearl and Ruby in the eye. "I'll be there. I'll be held accountable. I'll be responsible for everything she'll do. If she so much as destroys a building, then I'm punished along with her."

"That is _reckless_! You're going to get yourself _killed_ doing this kind of promise." Pearl told her. "You can't trust her. She's insane. She might've talked you into doing this, and had a scheme planned up to destroy the world once again."

"No. She hasn't."

"And why's _that_?"

"Pearl, stop overthinking things and just trust me on this for a second!" Stevonnie's tone was much more controlling now. "She's not our enemy. She's just misguided with rage from the death of a loved one." That line made them realize how much Stevonnie was suffering, and how she was trying her best not to become like Onyx. "She's going to help us from now on. I said so, and she _will_."

After a moment, Pearl and Ruby begrudgingly accepted it.

"Alright," Pearl made a choice now, already planning things out. "We're... not going to kill her."

Amethyst didn't like the serious talk and the decision making. She couldn't pick her own anymore. Everything was really hard to choose. Sapphire just let the present do its work. She didn't need to intervene when Stevonnie was doing well enough on her own.

Ruby harrumphed and crossed her arms, kinda proud that Stevonnie stood up for herself.

The xeno-fusion sighed, "Good."

She knelt over to Onyx, thinking how she was gonna heal her.

* * *

When Onyx was finally healed, the Crystal Gems tensed in her appearance. Though tired, they readied themselves for the worst. But Onyx just stood there, looking at Stevonnie. Their eyes met and a whole conversation had been made, since already having talked beforehand.

 _'I am forever in your debt.'_ she finally said.

Stevonnie waved her hand downwards. "It's cool."

" _It's cool_?" Amethyst repeated bewilderedly, eyes darting from one powerful entity to another. "Are you two buddies now?"

"Well," Stevonie brought her hands up in a shrug motion, "She's gonna be stuck with us—"

 _'No,'_ Onyx interrupted, making the Crystal Gems flinch at the suddenness. _'I mean... I... need to clear my mind off some things. I'm sorry, Stevonnie. But I'm going to leave. And, please... don't follow me. I'm not ready yet. For this...'_ she gestured to the damage. _'...I'm sorry about...'_ She didn't continue and shook her head apologetically. Stevonnie accepted the apology, but she was still heartbroken. _'...I have a lot of thinking... to do...'_

Onyx took off without another word, soaring through the sky at breakneck speeds.

Stevonnie and the Crystal Gems watched as the sky turned orange, as the sun was setting. It was a _long_ day. Ruby watched in awe at the others on how they didn't notice just let the Gem who destroyed this city roam free without punishment. Pearl glanced at Ruby and they understood.

"So, when did Connie get out of her coma?" Amethyst asked, breaking the silence.

"And how did you know you two could fuse?" Pearl followed.

Stevonnie smiled sadly. "It's a miracle."

* * *

A/N: If you're wondering what happened to the bold layout, I didn't like it. It's distracting my eyes. And you're probably wondering: _If Onyx can't use telepathy on Stevonnie, then how could she hear her?_

Don't think about it.

So, I took a _while_ to update this. I am _so_ sorry you guys. I was just... psshh... doin' stuff. I went to _Japan_ , for _Universal Studios_ , _Disneyland_ and _Disneysea_. Found out I dislike eating crabs. So, character growth for me, I guess. Also, started this new Mabel/Dipper first POV _Gravity Falls_ fic because I couldn't write the other three _Gravity Falls_ fics, then I used all my unused ideas into that new one. _Recycling_!

I didn't accomplish a lot of writing in this span of time as you can see from this chapter. Also, scrapped some ideas and rewrote stuff. My first draft had Stevonnie being a more self-centered teenager vibe, which I did not like. Then, I did do a lot of planning of new ideas, throwing out old ideas, for what's about to happen next. Also, because I watched _Captain America Civil War_ recently. So. Yeah. Inspiration.

Anyway (again (I say anyway a lot...)), I've seen the new episodes and how it dealt with the Cluster...

STEVEN, YOU'RE SO PURE AND GOOD. I'VE RUINED YOU. I'M SORRY.

* * *

Breaking News: Stevonnie is the Xeno-Fusion. Xeno meaning "different in origin", which she is, to the contrary of normal fusion.

Next Chapter's Title: "Last Chances"


	41. Chapter 39: Last Chances

A/N: I'm sorry I'm late again. I was supposed to update this yesterday, but I... kinda slept. Now, I have _finally_ finished this chapter. I feel like I'm forgetting to tell you guys something.

Oh, right. Chapters 35-38... their chapter titles' first letters combined spell out ONYX.

 **O** ur Hopes In Fears

 **N** ightmare Persona

 **Y** our Illusion

 **X** eno-Fusion

There ya go. Still kept up with the trend. I'm pretty sure there should be some of you who've noticed. You guys probably used it and figured it out, didn't you? Anyways, on with the late chapter.

* * *

Chapter 39: Last Chances

* * *

A week had passed and Stevonnie had reminisced Lapis Lazuli through her fusees memories. She replayed the memories over and over in perfect rendition, since her demigem-human fusion had some advantages on that case. She had perfect memory, and remembered the whole battle against Onyx. Every hit she gave, she could feel the impact on the telepath's body. And now that they were on good terms, she felt uneasy about that memory. It didn't give the same emotion she was going for when she did it for Steven and Connie.

There wasn't that excitement or satisfaction she expected. It was full of misguided rage that eventually led up to nothing, since she let Lapis' killer go free and that even felt anticlimactic. She imagined killing her, but the thought disturbed her so much that she felt her soul clench together, never letting go. That bubbly pit in her stomach did somersaults everytime she thought of how it would've went.

What would've happened if she had actually killed Onyx?

So far, she could only think a darker path for herself. But she didn't want that. She wanted to keep her humanity in check and her morals tight. If she broke her rules, then how could she even be called a _hero_.

Then, there's that word. Hero.

Could Stevonnie pass as one? Surely, she could. But it still didn't sit with her. She didn't feel like one. She saved the day, but she felt empty because of it. She held her morals high and did the good thing, but she didn't feel anymore heroic as Pearl told her she did. She felt disappointed in herself that she couldn't be the solution to what Steven and Connie wanted to become. A hero. And not just any hero, a perfect one with the best, easygoing life ever.

Their expectations were too high. She could never live up to that. It was merely impossible. And they understood. It would never happen.

A hero's journey is never an easy one. Stevonnie may have defeated the villain with ease, but it took a toll on her emotionally. She had to wrestle with her morals and finally gave in to being a goody two-shoes. That was who she was at the core, a good person. She couldn't _kill_ someone. That was going too far for her standards. But would Steven and Connie go for the kill? Now, that's something she feared. She was her own person, Steven and Connie were two other different people.

Sure she may be a fusion of them, but that didn't mean she would be a literal amalgamation of them. She had their memories, looks, and skills... but she started as a blank slate. She was her own person. She wasn't two people controlling one body. She was in control of herself.

Okay, maybe there was a bit of controlling from both of them. But it didn't really make much of a difference.

Stevonnie was laying on Connie's bed, staring at the ceiling of the young human's bedroom. She was tall. And the bed was made for someone shorter. So, her legs hung over the edge of the bed. Her sleep was dreamless. It was just a dark pit, lost of consciousness, till she regained it and woke. Speaking of dreams, Stevonnie knew Connie had experienced a tremendous one during her coma. It was how Connie knew Stevonnie would work, she experienced it in a dream... of another reality where Steven lived with the Crystal Gems all his life.

Speaking of living in places with people, Stevonnie had been living with Connie's parents lately. They were the ones she'd turn to because of Connie's influence. The Gems would be their next location, but Connie's parents still had an intimate connection with her. They technically _are_ her _real_ family. "Real" meaning she was related through blood. They were the only ones biological related to Stevonnie that Steven knew of. It balances.

It felt very complicated to Stevonnie, holding these thoughts and emotions. These weren't even hers. Sometimes, she feels like she's seeing something she's not supposed to. She feels invading. It felt wrong. But it was still hers at the same time, so she reminisced the times but still felt weird about it.

Everything was so conflicting to her.

She hadn't unfused since Lapis' death.

Steven and Connie didn't want to come out and face the reality. Stevonnie didn't want to disappear.

There was difference between the three to the acceptance of her death. Stevonnie might've accepted it a week ago, but Steven and Connie didn't. They hadn't come out and accepted it as a reality for themselves, selfishly letting Stevonnie do it for them.

Stevonnie wants to stay in reality.

The kids don't want to come out.

* * *

Amethyst spent the day at a diner, eating french fries.

Ruby had joined her at the table, since the red Gem had no other Crystal Gem to go to. Sapphire was a very hard person to talk to, for obvious reasons. Pearl was far-off and didn't seem to be on good terms with her, and add to the fact they hardly see each other anymore. Lapis died, no other words there. Kyanite was on her own personal mission looking for Onyx. Stevonnie hadn't unfused and she was concerned for her—fusions aren't tools, they're people too. She wanted to know if she fit in or not, but the fusion had distanced herself from everyone.

Ruby rapped her knuckles against each other apprehensively. She realized she didn't have any close friends, aside from Amethyst, because she was... well, a lot more forgiving, talkative and closer to her in terms of living space. Also, they were teammates.

"Don't you think Onyx got off easily?" Ruby asked out of the blue. Amethyst glanced at her, before returning her gaze to her fries.

"I think so too also," Amethyst replied awkwardly, her grammar failing her.

"She-She destroyed a _whole_ city," Ruby recalled the events exasperatedly, "Threatened to destroy the _world_ , killed Lapis, made us go through an agonizing experience, made our reputation go _south_!" Her tone felt a tad more offended when she said that. "We didn't even have that much of a good rep to begin with!"

"I know..." Amethyst lifted a soggy french fry and munched on it.

"Now, Steven and Connie are just... Stevonnie!" Ruby exclaimed, "I-I feel like I should be _guiding_ her, show her the ropes of being a fusion, telling her what she's experiencing is normal and all that stuff... but at a time like _this_? I don't know if I could even approach her... And she's staying in Connie's house, instead of _ours_."

"Ours isn't that homely to begin with," Amethyst shrugged. She pushed the plate of fries over to the side. "I could understand her picking them over us."

"That's my _problem_. What if... What if she doesn't _like_ us?" Ruby looked really concerned about how she'd be seen by Stevonnie, and Amethyst could notice that. Ruby and Sapphire were a hell of a fusion, but with them having a falling out... There were no actual experienced fusions left to help with Stevonnie—to tell her it was normal to be stuck as one and that there isn't any need to feel guilty.

"Should we visit her?"

"I've been thinking about that since day one... Maybe she just wants to rest." Ruby reassured herself nervously. She placed a palm on her forehead. "Sh-She locked herself away from us. Maybe she wants a break..."

Amethyst noticed the stuttering.

"I should get you to do a proper meeting with Stevonnie, now that it isn't the heat of battle and you're mellowed out in these type of peaceful situations. Expecially since..." Amethyst had noticed a lot of things about Ruby. She had been quieter after their fight against Bloodstone. Only until you engage a talk with her would she be speaking. Leave her alone and Ruby would be minding her own business in her barn. "Expecially since you fought your... _ex_ -teacher..."

Ruby's eyes had a dangerous glint in them at the mention.

Amethyst, once again, _noticed_ the subtle change. Her powers of perception never seemed to fail her during times she didn't need to be perceptive. But when the whole world is ending, _oh no, can't help, you're on your own._ The one time she thought her perception made a difference was when Amber hinted at another nuke. And the one time her perception failed her most, was when she met Steven _Leslie_ for the first time.

"Alright, I'm being... _hypocritical_ right now," Amethyst admitted. "I haven't seen Vidalia in a _long_ time. So, I know what you're going through with Stevonnie. You're scared to confront her because you don't know her and the more time passes, the more you tell yourself..." She redid that last phrase, since she thought she said it wrong. "...you _convince_ yourself, that she's better off without you in your life."

Ruby looked at Amethyst. "I was going to say _you're wrong, this is different_ , but you made your point in the end, and I can't refute that. So congratulations on explaining something I already know..."

This response in turn made Amethyst respond immediately. "You already know? With _who_?" she teased.

"Don't do it, Amethyst," Ruby warned.

"You're right," she sighed. "I already confronted you about it, like... _several_ months ago? But going back to Stevonnie, we should do something. We didn't really do much to welcome her, unless you say... interrogating her with something _she's_ also mystified about is a good welcome."

"Yeah," the red Gem responded. She interlocked her fingers together and held them under her nose, like she was deep in thought. "What to do, though? Can't just come up to _her_ and say we're there to check on her and redo the meeting. I know for a fact she retains all of their memories, but she never actually met _us_." She put a lot of stress on the word _us_. "We actually never met her."

"Everyone likes ice cream," Amethyst tried.

So, Amethyst and Ruby ventured off to get ice cream. As they went on their journey, the leader complained that her right-hand man was melting the ice cream. Nevertheless, they still got the ice cream.

* * *

Pyrite was laying on her bed, listening to music on her headphones, when Howlite entered uninvited. The golden Gem sensed and noticed the intrusion. She immediately bolted up, rushed over at Howlite, pushed her out of the room, and shut the door. She took off her headphones and stopped her iPod from playing, because she valued its time and didn't want to waste such music.

"Hold up!" Pyrite cried as she kept the door closed. "Who gave you the permission to come into my room like that?"

"What, it's not like you have any secrets in there," Howlite said through the door. "And I've already seen how much rubbish is everywhere. No point in continuing this charade."

"Good point," Pyrite nodded, even though the other Gem couldn't see that. "But it's _still_ _my_ _room_. You can't barge into private property like that!"

"Your room is owned by the Revolution. They can sweep the rug under you at any time." Howlite replied in monotone. "And I'm sure after our... ahem, _assistance_ a week ago... We'd be... we'd be kicked out." she said guiltily.

Pyrite rolled her eyes at the first statement, but the last one struck a nerve with her. "Yeah..." Pyrite's eyes took an unusual amount of interest on the carpet floor, before staring dead-on at the door. "What do you want?"

Howlite didn't answer immediately, and considered her thoughts. "I don't know."

Irked by the runaround answer, Pyrite put on a metal lock. She made sure the sound of the metal lock could be heard by Howlite. "That's _not_ an answer. _That's_ strike one. I've got two locks left. Tell me a reasonable reason on why you need to enter."

Howlite tried another way of getting around this obstacle. "I could blast my way into that apartment. You know that."

"Try it, and I'm knocking you the _heck_ , and _I_ _mean_ , _the absolute heck_ , _down_." Pyrite warned.

"I need assistance," Howlite tried.

"You could'a called me," Pyrite retorted. "No need to get in my room." _Geez, why's Howlite so tempted to come here? The heck are all these reasons anyway? They sound so much like lies, I don't believe that's even Howlite anymore._

"It doesn't have to be about the apartment, goldilocks."

"Wow," Pyrite sarcastically replied. "How long did it take you to find that children's book?"

"How did you know that was a children's book?" she asked.

"I am very gifted in the art of espionage," Pyrite answered. "I kinda have this thing in my brain that, probably during my time as a powerhouse for Yellow Diamond, kinda makes my overall affinity only for battle and the knowledge of the battlefield. And right now, that's Earth." She narrowed her eyes. "I am _very_ competitive when I want to be."

Howlite tensed at this. She hesitated even going near Pyrite anymore. "Are you okay now?"

"Yup. I cleaned up all the clutter during my time as a soldier for Amber, since she took away all my memories. And then BAM, it all came back and I know what I'd done and I differentiate that from the all new, all different Pyrite you see before your very eyes." Pyrite responded smugly.

"There's still a door," Howlite said, "Blocking me from seeing you."

"I'm not opening it," she said aggressively. "Why do you want to come in?" Pyrite demanded.

Howlite changed the topic. "The whole Gem army here is playing baseball. Wanna join?"

Pyrite instantly gravitated toward the thought of a giant mass of Gems playing a human sport. She opened the door wide with starry eyes. "Oh yeah, man!" Then, it all faded and a sinister grin was plastered across her face. "I'm gonna wreck 'em _all_."

"Hmm," the silver Gem nodded. Pyrite saw that Howlite had been sweating all over her face and blushing, but still put on a stoic face. "Uh, yeah sure."

"You okay? You look like you're about to... _throw up_." Immediately after her concern, she quickly followed up with, "If you do, don't go in my room," in a serious, angry-eyed, expression. She started to jog for the yard, with Howlite following close by.

* * *

Stevonnie was at the Maheswaran dinner table, sadly staring at the food on her plate. The adults were trying their best to focus on eating, but they couldn't help but feel worried for Stevonnie. She hadn't taken a single bite since they started.

"Uh, _sweetie_ , are you okay?" Doug asked, leaning closer to the fusion. Stevonnie had told them all about herself, and they understood that she's not a tool, she's a human. It was better to treat her like a daughter to them for her familiarity.

"Y-Yeah, yeah... It's just... I feel..." Stevonnie struggled for the right word. She was nervous around Connie's parents because she wasn't really with them much during the time she spent there. And also the confusing aspect that they were Stevonnie's parents too, and technically her grandparents simultaneously, while also being not related to them in a way.

Priyanka was able to read the fusion's expression. "Conflicted," she tried.

"Yes, _that_. _Conflicted_. I just have so many feelings... A week ago, I was just used for combat, and now that I have a life... I don't really have a purpose, and Steven and Connie are just... also dealing with many feelings... And that adds up with my feelings, because I feel their feelings, and..." She looked up and saw their faces. Doug had the expression that was trying to follow, while Priyanka was still listening. She chuckled, twiddling her thumbs. "I'm grateful you're listening..."

"Well, I have to. I wouldn't be a responsible parent if I didn't." Priyanka joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I noticed you didn't say _we_ ," Doug remarked, eyes half-closed.

"Well, you obviously can't summarize what Stevonnie just said." Priyanka shrugged, leaving a small smirk to herself.

" _Hey_!" Doug retorted amusingly, not raising his voice that high.

Stevonnie shuffled around her seat, knowing her legs were cramped because of how big she was compared to the norm, when the doorbell rang.

"O-Oh!" Stevonnie stood up, "I'll get it. I-It's probably for me."

As Stevonnie walked by, Priyanka caught her hand. Stevonnie stopped and looked at Priyanka, since she grabbed her for a reason. Priyanka smiled comfortingly, "Honey, you don't need to be nervous around us. We're your... well, _parents_ , technically."

"Yeah, I have memories." Stevonnie scratched the back of her head. "But I've also never spent as much time as my memories say I do, because they're Connie's memories."

"No..." Priyanka stated, chuckling a bit. "Those are still your memories. Even if it's Connie's or Steven's, they're yours because you _are_ them. All in one person. You can be your own person, doesn't matter which background you start from. You be you."

Stevonnie looked at her with admiration. Priyanka had given her wisdom she had never been given this whole week. Maybe she was thinking this wrong. Sure, she may have said that she was her own person, but maybe she had to stop sulking around and _get_ to being her own person.

"Come on, honey," Priyanka patted her arm. "Go get that door."

Stevonnie hurriedly left the room, careful to tiptoe to not cause much force. Doug looked at her wife in awe.

"How... How did you do that?" Doug asked.

"Hehe, _magic_ ," Priyanka joked, dazzling her hands around as if they made sparkles.

Meanwhile, Stevonnie had opened the door, which revealed that her visitors were Amethyst and Ruby. Amethyst entered in quickly, shivering to herself, while Ruby came in trying to look cool.

Amethyst shuddered, "Dude, it's October. Were you trying to freeze us out there?" And then she quietly mumbled, "...You're so tall..."

"Sorry, it's just... I had a _wisdom_ moment," Stevonnie explained with awe in her voice. She then looked confused. "Also, it's not that cold out. So, why are you..."

"Shapeshifting queen here is just overreacting," Ruby stated, arms crossed and nose high.

"Ice cream," Amethyst bluntly said, bringing out the ice cream boxes from her gemstone. "I brought ice cream."

Amethyst gave out a chilly breath, which Stevonnie could identify with her high-definition eyesight that there was a bit of cool frost peeking from it.

"Woah, you're seriously cold!" Stevonnie remarked.

"Big deal," Ruby shrugged, wrapping an arm around Amethyst.

The purple Gems' eyes bulged in seething pain. "Hot. Hot. _Hot_. _HOT_."

"See?" Ruby retracted her arm, dusting it off. "Nothing to be afraid of."

Amethyst scowled, "You could've melted the ice cream."

"But I _didn't_ ," Ruby replied smugly. The purple quartz glared.

"You suck."

"Oh, now I feel _offended_ , _young lady_! Those words are not for the home!" Ruby teased.

"Why is everyone around me trying to be funny?" Stevonnie blankly stated.

"Oh, we're just setting the mood. We know you've been a downer lately." Amethyst bluntly replied, eyes half-closed. Ruby started sweating. She smacked her from behind the head and blocked her view of Stevonnie.

"We just like being funny today!" Ruby lied blatantly. "Ain't that right, Amethyst?" she elbowed the purple quartz _hard_ , causing her to exclaim her discomfort through disgruntled noises. Amethyst glared at the red Gem before looking at Stevonnie.

"But hey! Let's not forget, we're _all_ here and we got you a present. And it's a good one. Because it's _ice cream_. No one can escape the delight of ice cream!" Amethyst proudly exclaimed. "Ice cream is the best company to misery! I would know. I ate a lot of this stuff back in April... _and_ _May_! I think."

Stevonnie recognised those months. "Aren't those months like... after the time Peridot left?"

"Well... _yeah_..." Amethyst stared at the floor.

There was knocking on the door again.

"Uh... you guys forgot someone?" Stevonnie asked them. The two Gems glanced at each other, shaking their heads.

"I mean, it's probably Sapphire with her surprise entrances." Ruby said, though it was still uneasy for her to mention her name in a casual manner. There was a twinge of pain in that sentence.

Stevonnie opened the door, and a white Gem was waiting there.

"Who're you?" Stevonnie asked with a genuinely confused, raised brow. Amethyst looked from Stevonnie's side and didn't recognize the white Gem either. Ruby's eyes widened.

"Moonstone!" the red Gem exclaimed. "What a surprise!"

"Yes. I never really met any of you in person, but it's a reminiscent feeling to be around the big heroes again." Moonstone, teacher of white Gems, said. "Feels odd that you Gems are so... _human_."

Amethyst piped up. "Did you follow us here?"

"I'm sorry. I even influenced you two to get here." Moonstone admitted, scratching his bushy mustache and goatee.

"How'd you do that?" Amethyst asked, "Wait, were you the one who placed the ice cream everywhere?"

"Certain trait for us Stones to be able to influence people. It's why we're used for teaching Gems propaganda." Moonstone answered. "And no, I didn't place ice cream anywhere. Your spontaneous nature has become more unpredictable than Ruby."

"What are you here for? Can't imagine a Gem like you coming here for no reason." Ruby remarked.

"Oh, I came to bring this," Moonstone brought out a small white box from his Gem. He gave it to Stevonnie. "Be careful. She's still in there."

That piqued their interests. " _She_?"

"The remains of Lapis Lazuli." Moonstone stated. "I gathered every piece of her in the debris."

"How can you be so sure?" Stevonnie rested her hands over the box, not even sure how to react to this information. Should she be glad? Because she was sure as heck tearing up at the memory, just by caressing her fingers over the box.

"Moonstone can sense energy. Even the little bits, he could feel in the air." Ruby informed, affirming their skepticism.

Stevonnie stared at the small, white box.

Inside, were the shattered remains of what could've been a real mother to her.

The fusion's eyes welled up.

"Should I even be holding this? This is Steven's and Connie's moment..." Stevonnie said.

Ruby held her by the elbows and made the xeno-fusion face her. "Listen, Stevonnie... You deserve every right to hold this, just as much as Steven and Connie. They're you. And more importantly, you're _you_. It's okay... you're a person too."

Moonstone nodded in reassurance. "I've seen you. You're a new fusion. Yet you're still able to hold yourself together and be an ideal hero. You're a _prodigy_."

"Yeah..." Amethyst tried to think of her words, but the other two Gems took 'em anyway. "...what they said."

Stevonnie sniffed.

She opened up the box to see Lapis' Gem for the first time. It was real. And it was happening. Stevonnie trembled at the sight of such a brutally cracked Gem. The teardrop shaped gemstone had been crushed into pieces so small it seemed it was impossible for all of it to be here. But it happened anyway. The bos was here, holding all of her contents.

"Thanks, _Moonstone_ ," Tears trickled down Stevonnie's cheeks. "I-I... don't know what to say."

"You made a world-ending psychopath not destroy the Earth. It was the least I could do in range of my abilities." the teacher said.

Amethyst noticed Stevonnie's tear dripping from her chin. She watched the teardrop land onto a crack of the Gem and mended it. She glanced over at Ruby, and she nodded discreetly at her. Her eyes went to Moonstone and he looked at her like he knew.

Stevonnie just brought the box to her chest, hugging what was left.

When suddenly...

FLASH!

Bright blue light shone before her very eyes, lighting up the Gem. Stevonnie's hands trembled like she had done something wrong and Lapis' gemstone would explode and it would be her fault. But instead, the cerulean Gem mended its cracks and all of its pieces flew into it, creating a whole gemstone again.

The blue Gem hovered in the air and Stevonnie dropped the box in shock. The physical body of light projected itself outwards from the Gem and took shape. Black piercing eyes stared into Stevonnie's soul, causing her to hiccup with sad surprise. Color was brought to the white lady, as more detail brought itself into the physical world, creating the dead heroine.

Lapis Lazuli returned.

Stevonnie's first response was to hug her. And she did.

It was the last thing the fusion did.

Lapis gasped at the two children seizung her waist, joyfully accepting her return. Steven and Connie embraced the Gem with glee, cheerfully crying and grinning so wide they couldn't believe it. Lapis crouched down and hugged them back, chuckling to herself.

"I love you guys," Lapis told them endearingly, her nose nuzzling between them. They rested their heads on her shoulders. Steven's crushing grip made her exclaim in surprised pain. The boy's strength was crushing her. " _Ack_... Steven... You're... _crushing_... me..." She glanced at the other Gems. Amethyst was sniggering, Ruby crossed her arms smugly and Moonstone smiled warmly.

Steven, instead of loosening his hug, just held her tighter, like she was the only thing holding him to the ground. "I just can't believe you're back..."

Connie joined, bringing Lapis endless torment. "We... We thought you died..."

"I thought you were in a coma..." Lapis croaked out.

"I got better."

"We love you, Lapis..."

"I love you guys t...—Steven, you're flying."

Steven looked down and there was air between him and the ground. "Wha— _Huh_?"

* * *

The city had become an extreme case.

The place was called _J-son_ , named after the late war hero, Jason Alburn. Jason was a humble man that had accomplished many feats in his days, like riding a golden dragon, retrieving a lost artifact, defeating the world and fighting among "gods". But that was a tale whispered along centuries of warriors. Pearl knew the man as "that fighter who lived", being one of the first humans to survive her in its earlier days of civilization. J-son was also told to be named after Son of J, and "J" would be Jupiter.

Pearl scanned the city's seismic activities, and they had gone through the _roof_. Onyx's battle had made some adjustments to the stability of the city's grounds, and she completely destroyed them. Hematite was a key problem to that, as he was the one who opened the idea of starting a warfare in the Earth's crust. His power was based around lava and earth, and doing so would cause mass destruction.

"I'm sorry, Pearl," Hematite said in his deep and resonant voice. Jade stood beside him like a bodyguard. "I did not realize the limits of my abilities and the catastrophe that would emerge with them."

"Yeah, well. Can you contain the damage?" Pearl asked, not even looking at the Gem. She was too busy reading holographic reports of damage caused by an uproar of Gems. Her work was becoming increasingly controversial.

"Reconstructing the Earth's surface and magma... I am a being of rock, so I would be able to do it."

Hematite went to the city and melded the instability. That left Pearl and Jade on a grassy cliff, overseeing the city.

Jade looked over Pearl's work. She skimmed a lot of the words and got the main idea.

"News flash: Gems destroy yet another state. Government to be blamed for?" Jade sarcastically remarked. Her voice was scratchy and like a teenager going through puberty.

Pearl turned her head to her in mild surprise. "I thought you were mute."

"Yeah. And people thought I ate humans," Jade shrugged. She pointed at her mask covering her nose and mouth. "I think the mask gives them the idea. And the whole blades and swords look I have adds to their theory that I eat my victims."

"Hmm," Pearl returned to her work.

Jade took a few steps closer to Pearl, her sword clanking on her back with each foot she took.

"They're gonna blame Hematite," Jade noted. Pearl couldn't get around how young she sounded. It was almost nosy, with a bit whimsy added. "The entire city is blaming us for the destruction we caused and the post-effects of that destruction. The minority will try to accept us as trying their best to stop alien attacks. And if Hematite intercepts and heals the earthquakes, they're gonna take it as propaganda."

"You catch on," Pearl mused.

"I watch you," Jade narrowed her eyes. "Whatever you're planning... whatever the strategic arcs you're going to take... It's not going to help benefit the Gem colonization on this planet. It will only lead to civil war."

The statement alarmed Pearl. She turned around and took Jade in her interest. Jade took a cautious step back from the exasperated aura Pearl was giving out. It was almost scary how much rage could be emitted by one person. How she hadn't been blinded by it escapes Jade. The ninja-like Gem would've already gone into a flurry with a fraction of that amount. Still, she tried to keep her composure.

"How much do you know?" the white Gem demanded.

"About the registration acts?" Jade grunted, "I saw your negotiations with the world council. You've been discussing this for at least a _year_. They've taken in the Kronos Quad movement and are going to put it in action by the end of the month." Jade noticed Pearl soften up and sigh discreetly. "This isn't going to end well, Pearl. The papers... the rules are going to tear the Gems. It's going to be Homeworld and the rebellion all over again."

Pearl looked at the Gem with a slight hint of intrigue. She turned away, her back facing Jade. "You can't change it. It's already decided. The world council gave us their last chance before they'll take worse actions. This is our last chance."

Jade contemplated at the grassy ground. The events on Kronos Quad, Dexterity Castle and now J-son... She remembered more conflicts in Egypt, surrounding the flooding of the desert and the destruction of a whole pyramid. And the actions of the man-hunter Kyanite half a year ago that struck up more controversy. The world was engulfed with rage and distrust for the Gems. The registration would make amends to humanity, but Gemkind would tear themselves apart with the rules of registry.

"Is it really our last chance?" Jade asked inquisitively. "Can't we... isolate ourselves from humanity?"

"Are _you_ gonna?" Pearl shot back.

Jade looked to the city. "It... should be possible."

"Good luck. We've already taken all Earth regions. All that's left for you would be to go to space." Pearl solemnly replied. She went back to her holographic reports. "Try to find a planet that you won't get bored of, I guess. And then Homeworld will bump into you."

Jade thought of another question. "Why doesn't Homeworld just take this planet already?"

"Rose Quartz claimed this land," Pearl answered. "You've seen her forces. Besides, Homeworld thinks it's taboo to ever come near here. Pass on tradition for centuries and this world is invisible and kept as a secret to public Homeworld."

Jade looked at Pearl wistfully.

"How long have you thought of this?"

Pearl glanced back. "Humans and Gems are similar in the oddest ways."

* * *

A/N: Yes, I'm a douche. No more fake-outs for deaths from now on. I promise. _*fingers crossed*_ Alright, you caught me. No one can die. Chapter 30 _never_ happened. (Curse that chapter. Hated that.) And Spinel didn't die either. And technically, neither did Amber.

Huge shoutout to _The Richmaster_ for taking the time to review this! ... _and_ boosting me to the 15th most reviewed SU fic... Wow, I'm _actually_ on the first page for these lists...

Just one question before I go, should I change this fic's title? Because nowadays when I look at it, kinda seems like it's a Steven and Lapis shipping fic. So, should I change it or let it be?

P.S. What's with the leaks? I've now seen three leaked episodes.

(((((SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW: I saw the title _Steven Floats_ back when the episode titles were leaked, so I was like... Steven can fly? Well, I kinda regarded that back in Chapter 7 when Steven said he wanted to fly but Lapis denied all that... But, looks like I'm gonna add another thing to the power list. Being able to manipulate your control over air movement around you is pretty interesting.)))))

* * *

Breaking News: Last chances everyone! Get yer' last chances!

Next Chapter's Title: "Terminal Rogue"


	42. Chapter 40: Terminal Rogue

Chapter 40: Terminal Rogue

* * *

Connie was having dreams.

They were all fuzzy and hazy to her.

She had dreamt of another universe where Lapis hadn't taken care of Steven. Instead it was the Crystal Gems. Amethyst was a familiar one with her purple hue and wild attitude. Pearl was less memorable since Connie never really met her. And there was this other tall Gem that took care of Steven, and Connie only remembered that she was stoic. These were the Crystal Gems.

And Steven.

That demigem was fourteen years-old in her dream, yet he still looked all the same.

She dreamt of a house in the Beach City beaches, where the giant statue had its Warp Pad and the rooms of the Crystal Gems, all brought together in its tummy. It was a cute wooden cottage, with a staircase rising up to it. She remembered walking up those creaky steps, stepping over the floorboards, and meeting Steven with a smile whenever he opened the door for her.

Connie would wake up in her bed and contemplate at the ceiling about these strange dreams. She would use up notebooks to write down whatever stories her dreams came up with and illustrate pictures she would remember. There were tales of an unnatural first meeting between them, journeys surrounding Lion, a few normal picnics with Steven, Lapis using up the Earth's water, the Homeworld ship crashing onto Beach City, training with Pearl...

And then, there was that dream of her fusing with Steven.

It happened during her comatose state. She remembered it vividly. Dancing on the beach, Steven promising not to look, and then she caught him as he tripped. A bright light as they laughed. And Stevonnie took over.

That was how she was so sure it would work. It was how she and Steven saved the day. Because of that weird dream, she was able to inherit the idea of fusing with Steven.

 _That can't be a coincidence,_ she thought, _how do my dreams know so much?_

She remembered Aquamarine, the magic Gem. That sorcerer cast a spell on her, putting her to deep sleep. _There's some side effects to it, there_ had _to be,_ Connie thought to herself. These dreams weren't just one-offs. She could remember them. She dreamed of the same thing every day now. Continuous adventures with Steven and the "Crystal Gems".

Something was going on.

She wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Unbeknownst to her, a certain magic Gem watches her sleep.

* * *

Steven was testing this floating ability he had in the Crystal Temple, since that was the only place he could think of at the time to train himself. The Crystal Gems weren't around so he was all alone, unless you count a certain feline. Lion had been lazing around prior, before watching him. The demigem jumped and reached new heights without breaking a sweat. He laughed joyfully, and jumped higher and higher until...

Well, he was hovering above the clouds at that point.

Steven's eyes scanned over the beautiful skies and the small city surrounded by the beach. Everything looked so small from up there, it felt almost empowering by the train of thought. He thought he was indestructible. He was actually _flying_. He remembered that day Lapis tried to "train" him, and it ended up in successfully unlocking his powers through an act. He recalled a conversation between him and her, about if he would be able to fly.

 _"I love flying!"_

 _"Flying is dangerous."_

 _"But the feeling of air rushing through your body is so..._ awesome _. It's worth it. I wish_ I _could fly."_

 _Then Lapis' eyes looked so far off, like she wasn't telling him something. She was always so secretive. And he never pried._

Steven was floating along the air about that memory, looking downcast at the city, when he remembered the events that came forward after the flight. Lapis lied to him in order to get his powers to work, Amber worked in the shadows and made the Rogue Nation, the confrontation with the Crystal Gems, fighting for the nuke in Kronos Quad, Amber's flying Dexterity Castle spectacle, pink skies... so many more memories of fighting, loss and tragedy. Connie slipping into a coma, Lapis dying, his selfishness with Stevonnie and how he used her as a tool. He felt regretful for that. He wished he could apologize.

He didn't notice he started falling at terminal velocity.

Luckily, Lion was keeping watch and swooped in to save Steven. The demigem only realized he had fallen when he plunged into pink fur, and rose from the other side into a field of tall, pink grass. He gasped, but found out shortly he lacked oxygen. He couldn't breathe. But he could see.

He saw a pink acacia tree. It stood atop a hill. And on that hill was a bunch of stuff.

Looking around, the savannah didn't seem to stop. There was no end to it. The skies were tinted a faint yellow, or pink... it was too light for him to see. He thought it was yellow in contrast to the pink around him, but his vision danced and his head hurt. He flailed, realizing he was gonna pass out, and he had no idea what this place was. Or how to get out. His body failed him and he fell, into the tall grass, and out.

Out into the open world.

Steven gasped dramatically as he exited Lion's mane, clawing his way onto the beach. He wheezed and gulped in as much air as he could, his heart beating at the feeling of passing out. He felt weakness, he felt vulnerability, he felt... human. He felt like throwing up, but he wasn't able to.

The demigem groggily sat up and groaned at Lion, "Why didn't you tell me you had a... a whole _place_ in there?"

Lion licked his snout in reply.

Steven huffed, catching his breath, as he rolled onto his side. He lay flat against the pale grains of the beach, before steeling his composure and taking a breath.

"I'm going in there," Steven said determinedly. It was the only thing he would do today. Nobody was around, both Connie and Lapis needed time to regain their sense with the world. Connie lost a month and Lapis _died_. There would be some serious contemplation going on for them. But Steven... he was alone with Lion.

The young demigem looked at Lion.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Lion just blinked at him.

"Uhh, um... I'm going to take that as a yes." Steven replied as solemnly as he could.

The boy took a deep breath, puffed his chest out, and hopped into Lion's mane.

By the second trip in, he had already known what it felt like. He was prepared. Steven locked his eyes with the tree on the hill, and marched towards it. It took a few moments, and the air in his lungs already started to waver. He released some air through his nose accidentally and groaned inwardly at it. But the demigem reached the hill. He walked up, and took notice of his surroundings.

There was a black tee, a bubble, a treasure chest, a flag, a portrait, a casette tape, and a hole were a sword once fit in. Steven guessed that's where his mother's sword would be, if they hadn't taken it beforehand. He grabbed the portrait. A picture of a large woman with eyes closed and curly pink hair was standing in the back, while a man, looking gleefully with a hot dog in his mouth, had a beard and started balding.

It took him a moment to realize he had forgotten to save his air.

But he was still able to stay and contemplate.

" _Mom_ , _dad_..." he said finally. "I never got to meet either of you. In person. To talk. With an actual mind."

He ran out of breath.

Quickly, he dove from the hill and plunged into the grass field. His body cannonballed out of Lion's mane and hit the sand.

"Ughff..." Steven groaned, getting up and dusting himself off. There was a ringing in his pocket and he fished out the source of sound. He brought out his phone and got a message from Connie.

She wrote: _I'm gonna be out alone foe awhile. If you need me, Just message._

Then added: _*for_

Steven sighed.

He looked at Lion, who looked back at him with a curious gleam in its eyes.

"What other powers do you have?" the demigem asked quizzically. Lion just rolled over his back and stared at Steven upside-down. The boy put his phone back in his pocket and clapped his hands. "Well, can you talk?"

Lion didn't blink.

"Worth a shot," Steven shrugged. Lion had been surprising. It had different abilities, except the ability to talk. Which Steven found suspicious. But it was a pink lion, what could he even complain?

"Steven!" a voice called.

The demigem didn't recognize it. He turned his back and saw a white Gem he hadn't seen in person a long time. Pearl, clad in her usual navy-colored uniform, walked over to the young boy.

Steven didn't know how to respond to Pearl. He wasn't close to her. He had never even talked to her alone. Last time, he remembered, he called her a monster. He hoped she wasn't gonna call him out about what happened a year ago. Things were awkward with Pearl too.

"Are the Crystal Gems around?" Pearl asked, trying to seem approachable.

"No," Steven ended it there. It was a closed answer, with nothing else to add or explain. No reason to keep talking.

"Well... uh..." Pearl tried, hesitating for a bit. "...I kind of need assistance."

Steven raised a brow at that. He waited for her to explain, but he noticed she was waiting for him to ask about it. "Um. What kind of assistance?" he finally said.

"Combat assistance," she replied. "Do you have any expertise in stealth?"

Steven thought about how spies in movies and books do their missions. He didn't think he could repeat what they could do. He answered honestly, "No."

"That's a shame. Your abilities are powerful," she remarked awkwardly. The conversation was going nowhere. They both knew that, and started to drift away from each other. "I'm going to... _back_ _to_ my base."

"Is it a mission?" Steven asked. "Because I've got nothing to do. And if it's something like fighting, then I'm sure I could handle it."

"Are you _really_ sure?" Pearl asked worriedly, mostly because it had only been a short week after Onyx. Her mother instincts were kicking in from the last time she held him as a baby, eleven years ago. There was a lot of things she regretted doing. And there was a lot of time she distanced herself from Steven. She didn't want to pull him into her mess, but...

"Yeah, I'm sure." Steven replied, noticing the sad look in her eyes. "No hard feelings, about... last year. Right?"

"Yes. _Last year_ ," Pearl ended. Though, it was _much_ longer than ten years.

Steven waved Lion goodbye and decided to message Connie that he was going on a mission with Pearl... but he turned that thought down since he thought Connie would want to stay alone. If he were to message her, it had to be if he needed help. And he didn't need it right now.

* * *

The Crystal Gems were tracking down where Kyanite was.

They only recently noticed that she was missing. It had been a week since Onyx, and they swore that as Alexandrite, that Kyanite was spared by Onyx and left in the city of J-son. But Kyanite wasn't anywhere to be found. The cyan Gem was gone.

"Sapph, got anything on your future vision?" Ruby asked.

"Should be somewhere in this radius," Sapphire responded. "My future vision foresaw us finding her in a cold, white place. With ice everywhere."

"Maybe the ice was made from you. And not everywhere in _Antarctica_."

The two had been walking in the freezing cold, neither of them bothered by it. Amethyst had been flying in the sky, since she was bored of the idea of walking. They had been exploring Antarctica and made friends with the penguins. There wasn't any sign of Kyanite yet, so there was some skepticism from Ruby.

"Just trust me," Sapphire told Ruby. "Kyanite should be here. She's trying to find Jet. And she doesn't know it's only Onyx yet."

Ruby grunted at her. She tried looking away, but Sapphire took her interests that day for some reason.

 _She looks nice today,_ the red Gem thought. _Could be nice... what am I thinking? Maybe it is destiny. I can't stay mad at her forever, can't I? Sooner or later..._ Ruby inwardly groaned. _Why am I thinking logically today?!_

"You haven't said anything," Sapphire remarked. She saw something in the future for a brief moment and smirked. She had seen a glimpse of destiny.

Ruby noticed her smile. " _What_?"

"Nothing," Sapphire replied.

"Alright, I'm gonna take a guess. I'll be dead soon, won't I?" Ruby asked nonchalantly, like the aspect of death didn't scare her.

"No," the cold Gem said. "You're, as kids these days would say, checking me out."

Ruby snorted, crossing her arms. " _Pfft_... As _if_. What, did I say you've got nice legs in the next minute?"

Sapphire glanced at her. "Your face is redder than usual," she remarked.

Ruby facepalmed. "My face is _always_ red. Could you be more specific?"

Sapphire sighed. She still won't admit defeat, even after being mellowed out after recent events. Ruby will always be Ruby, she figured.

"You want me to say it first or are you going to say it first?" Sapphire asked.

"Say _what_?" Ruby's voice cracked.

"I don't want to be blunt, but..." Sapphire looked at Ruby, and she stared back. "...you were going to say, _you look nice today, Sapphire_."

Ruby let out a cackle of laughter.

Sapphire continued, "And I was going to say—"

"Stop. Stop right there," Ruby interrupted her. Sapphire looked dishearted that she couldn't say it. "I just want to say... you're creepy."

"Thanks. That was a different response than I was expecting," Sapphire deadpanned.

* * *

Connie had decided to go outside, have a fresh breath of air and train. And what better way to do so than beat up criminals and hunt down the top of the underworld food chain?

She thought she could take it. She was trained by Gems. And she specialized in beating up people. Plus, she wanted to do those things in TV shows where they hunt down the main baddie of the crime world. That would be cool and awesome, and a great time waster for Connie. It would improve on how she saw the world and how to practically fight in the real world.

She never had a real fight.

It was all just Lapis Lazuli, a few Gems, then being magically put into a coma by Aquamarine.

Connie put on a baseball cap and sunglasses, armed with a red hoodie, and started sulking down the sidewalk of a busy city. She wasn't in her hometown Promenade anymore. She was entering its sister city, _Red Cuisine_. Legend says, this town was located in the birthplace of the late Leonardo Desval, ancient warrior of fire. Desval was a man of fun; he liked to play games. He ruled the streets, publicly shamed the cops, and burned down houses of the unlucky.

The city grew up. People got more conscious and political. But the underworld still roamed. The city was infamous for this, thought not widely known. The government controlled news of it and kept it down to not scare the civilians, or the people living there, so other cities wouldn't be overpopulated.

Connie watched the alleyways, waiting. She wanted to pick a fight, to finally win, to tell herself she wasn't useless. She couldn't tell herself mentally, she wanted to do it in the real world, so that she had a physical evidence. She didn't have a giant, indestructible pink sword with her, it would be too obvious and too easy.

She kept her eyes glued to a dark alleyway and to a few big men who stood around, looking tough. There was a police cruiser that arrived on the scene for patrol, so Connie begrudgingly went another way.

She held her head.

What was going on with her? What was with the sudden bloodlust? Why did she go out here, to a place she didn't really know about? Why did she want _so much_ to prove herself? This wasn't like her, she thought. It just wasn't her. Yet she forced herself to do it. She wanted to do this. The practical side of her mind wanted to get out, while her feelings wanted her to prove herself worth.

She felt like someone was watching her. A pair of eyes hiding in the shadows.

Connie continued walking for a few minutes, avoiding other people. She was short and young, but the way she held herself told the passersby otherwise. It oozed of maturity, war and unadulterated determination. It wasn't like her. She felt like a whole other person. Maybe she was. There was no way she was still being Connie Maheswaran now. No, she was someone else entirely.

She heard a few cries as she walked down the block. People didn't seem to hear it, but Connie picked it up. She immediately turned a corner into an alleyway, and saw a bunch of people cornering a man in an untidy suit.

"You were lookin' at us funny," one of the thugs said. He pushed the suited man harshly. These thugs wore the usual thuggish clothing that made it obvious. Tank tops, ripped jeans with chains. One wore a bandana, the other a gold necklace and sunglasses. The last one had a sleeveless leather jacket and a mohawk.

The suited man saw the kid watching him. Someone was watching him cower. Immediately, the suited man threw a punch at the nearest thug. The others reacted accordingly, shoving the man against the dead-end wall and kicking him.

Connie went in, walking towards the thug who got punched (also, wearing the bandana), with a stoic expression. The thug pulled out a small knife from his pocket, probably to use against the beaten man. They didn't notice her yet. The man whimpered against their kicks, all two of them. Bandana-head hadn't joined in yet.

Connie wanted to gain their attention. She wanted a fair fight in her regards. So, she picked up a fallen metal pipe and clanged it against the dumpster by the side brick wall.

That got their attention.

"Get lost, kid," Bandana said.

Connie grimaced. She struck the pipe against the dumpster another time, and it snapped in half. Mohawk flinched and Sunglasses bared his teeth worriedly. The suited man watched in fear. Connie felt her fingers bending the shattered pipe.

"You're grown men, right?" she asked rhetorically. "Fight me."

"You kiddin'?" Bandana asked. "You're just a kid!"

Connie edged closer to Bandana, psyching him out. Bandana realized and gritted his teeth.

"Jesus, these kids keep gettin' crazy..." Bandana muttered under his breath. He raised his voice. "You think you're hot stuff?" he asked, coming closer to Connie with his knife.

"Ey! Boss wouldn't like that." Sunglasses warned.

"Ye? Boss ain't here. 'Sides, he only said that we can't sell it ta' kids. Never said we can't hurt 'im." Bandana said.

"Jo, I swear to God," Mohawk added nervously. "You're gonna get us killed! Boss 's gonna put _our_ heads up our _asses_ , just 'cause you can't keep your cool!"

Connie got impatient and whacked the knife out of Bandana-Jo's hand.

"You actualy got the _guts_?!" Bandana shouted infuriatingly. He shot a fist straight for Connie, who took the punch to the face. She slightly stepped back from the momentum, not even dazed, or shaking from the hit.

"Oh, my god, Jo!" Mohawk scolded, before realizing Connie was still up.

The girl was relieved to feel her nose welling up and stinging. It felt good to feel pain. This wasn't going to be cheap. The guy had a good punch. She returned the favor.

* * *

Howlite stood with great dignity, ready to comply with orders from Pearl. Said Gem had recruited her for a mission, and went to find someone else suitable to join. The white Knight returned to the hub with a demigem in tow. Howlite was surprised to see Steven in person, mostly because she heard his stories and never really met him before. She heard he was a hero, and had a legacy to fulfill with being Rose Quartz's son. That was a weight on his shoulders Howlite could understand, he was practically a prince, as she had once been.

"Howlite," Pearl turned to introduce Steven, and for the first time, Howlite heard a hint of joy in the Revolution leader's voice. And the Knight's eyes were _much_ brighter. "This is..."

"Steven. I've heard of you." Howlite finished enthusiastically, staring wide-eyed at the boy with admiration and respect. Steven was uncomfortable with that. He felt he didn't earn that look in her eyes for him. "You're the child who saved the world. And a powerful one at that."

"Uh, thanks," Steven replied awkwardly. Howlite initiated a handshake and he took it with nervousness.

"He'll be joining us with taking down the rest of the... _other_ Rogue Nation. They signalled a homing beacon. Not sure why. The strength of the signal isn't powerful enough to reach Homeworld." Pearl informed. She turned to the demigem with this weird look in her eyes. Steven could've sworn it was _longing_. "Steven, this is Howlite. A prince of the White Diamond region back in Homeworld. She's proficient in the use of energy and could create blasts of concussive power and fly."

"A _prince_?" Steven asked bewilderedly, raising a brow. Sure, her specialties sounded interesting, but the title of a prince intrigued him. Were there even princes or princesses in Homeworld?

Howlite shrugged, trying to seem approachable to the boy. Much like Pearl tried to do. "Ex-prince now. But I'm fine with that. Being a prince really doesn't do much."

Steven was about to ask more about the hierarchy of Gems, but he just waved the thought off as he thought he couldn't understand the ranks. In the corner of his eye, he saw a soldier he remembered during Ambergeddon, Wild Card.

"Is that... Wild Card?" Steven pointed out.

Pearl looked where he gazed and nodded sadly. "Yes."

"Looks like he had a bad day." Steven said, noting that the soldier was in a wheelchair.

"That was... about two months ago." Pearl replied. "Doctors say he'll be at his peak in two more months." she added, hopefully comforting the boy. The demigem scanned the hub, watching people work on computers and walk around the place in an orderly manner. He glanced at Howlite again and caught her staring at the floor beside her. Normally, people would look down in front of them when they didn't know where to look, but Howlite was looking at the ground to her right, like there was someone supposed to be there.

Steven didn't ask about it. He didn't really want to stir up any potential trouble. But against his will, the feeling of loneliness was being filled inside him. Howlite visibly cheered up and removed her eyes from her side. Steven felt his heart fall into his stomach.

"Even though, you don't have any stealth training," Pearl started, snapping the demigem back to reality. "I'm sure we could find a way to do this without it."

"We're all well-versatile in the art of combat," said Howlite, who wanted to look good in front of Pearl. "Plus, we're pretty powerful in terms of the average power of Gems. Steven is _really_ powerful. You're powerful. I'm powerful."

"I was thinking about that too," Pearl replied, looking at the silver Gem appreciatively. Since she knows how much Howlite wanted her attention. "But I fear the worst..." she stated, her memory of the speed demon still fresh in her mind. "...I'll ask for Pyrite to come—"

Howlite immediatley, replied, only to stumble on her words. "Uh, th-that's not needed." she said, her face burning.

"Who's Pyrite?" Steven asked curiously.

"A golden Gem, proficient in the use of building up power. She can charge her own body to create unimaginable levels of strength. We don't know for sure what she's capable of. She never reached a limit." Pearl informed. Her description of Pyrite made Howlite look down nervously. She thought she made a bad move interrupting Pearl.

"She also wears human clothing and uses entertainment for the fun of it. Bugs me a lot." Howlite muttered under her breath. Pearl and Steven stared at her, until she noticed them. She quickly composed herself, trying to look as attentive as possible.

"Pyrite sounds... _kinda_..." Steven tried to find the word. "... _chill_."

"Yeah..." Howlite thought out loud. Her eyes widened a second afterwards, cupping her mouth. _That yellow imbecile,_ she thought.

Pearl crossed her arms. "Steven, have you ever used the Warp Pad?" she asked curiously.

"No," he simple replied. Then he noticed how impolite he must've sounded. "Uh, _well_... I've never really gotten on one. I've warped before, just not with the Warp Pad."

"Uh-huh," Pearl noted. She started walking and signalled the two to follow her. "C'mon. We're going to _Red Cuisine_."

* * *

The three walked stealthily underground, keeping their low profiles as low as the sewers.

Howlite shuddered at the green hue of the tunnel. The moss looked like they were moving as they walked by. It was mostly noticeable when Steven got close to the walls to avoid some puddles. Howlite found that interesting. Did the kid know or was he completely oblivious?

Pearl led the two into another tunnel of the sewers. She had the blueprints of this place and the location of the signal in her gemstone. The Knight glanced at the walls, seeing the moss vibrate as they walked by. Could they sense their presence? Or... was it because of Steven? She imagined the boy was still unaware of it, since he was still a child. Or maybe he _was_ aware of it, and that's why the moss was interacting, as after all, kids were rumored to be perceptive.

They finally stopped when they reached a ladder after the couple twenty others they've passed. Pearl led the way and brought them to a two-story warehouse.

"I didn't really think the Rogue Nation would secretly inhabit the city," Steven stated out of the blue.

"I was part of the Rogue Nation," Howlite added for no reason.

"Uh, sorry, if I bashed your head in." Steven said. The silver Gem shook her head.

"I got frozen in a causeway," Howlite informed.

"Ah," he nodded in understanding. "My mo—uh... not really, but _Lapis_ , she might've done that. Well, not might, but... a _hundred_ percent, she did it." He frowned, "No hard feelings?"

Howlite had planned on getting revenge. But upon hearing it was Lapis, she kicked that scheme out of her head. "Uh, no. Not at all."

Pearl was quiet as she listened. The _Kronos Quad Accords_ were on her mind. By the start of next month, the Registration Act would go worldwide, and Pearl wasn't as relieved about it anymore with her recent talk with Jade. Her words rung in her mind, and the topic of a civil war headed her way was a downer. If all of the Gems sign the Accords, there would be _real_ trust between them and humanity. Sure, the registration might have strict rules, but at least Earth wouldn't be so mistrusting of them. But if other Gems oppose and a civil war _does_ happen...

She shook her head. There was too much to worry on her plate. She didn't want to worry for another thing.

"Team, this is it," Pearl informed. She looked at them nervously. "Despite being called _the best_ , I uh... never really led a team of such high caliber in a mid priority mission like this. I've always gone solo. So... maybe just follow my lead?"

 _I just realized we don't have a team name,_ Steven thought, _maybe we should call ourselves Team... Revolution Squad? Get it, Team Gem Squad and Revolutio—Ah, forget it. Focus on the mission, Steven._

* * *

Connie stood in the middle of seventeen downed gang members. Her knuckles were scraped of skin. Her fists clenched and stained with blood. The men around her were lying unconscious with bruises all over them. The girl panted heavily, running out of breath, as she readjusted her cracked sunglasses.

She was about to step forward, when she lost control of her balance and stumbled over with a depressed body. Her heart pounded. Her busted lip and bruised cheek stung. Her whole body flared with numbness, her left leg was especially pulsing with pain. Connie didn't remember why she did it. She didn't even think it was her who did this. It wasn't her. Yet, she did it herself. She put her effort into this.

A pair of eyes from the shadows watched the girl try to stand, only successful after her fourth try.

Connie's head rattled. She held it as she limped forward, to get out of the alleyway, when a familiar face of hers turned the corner and leaned against the wall. The watcher was clad in a fancy black suit with a top hat. Connie immediately recognized her, and caught sight of the star-wand, _Quarain_.

Aquamarine smirked at the human.

Connie didn't know why. But she forced herself forward. She tried to keep every muscle in her body to stop what she was doing, but she limped towards Aquamarine and only stopped until she was in front of her. What Connie did next shocked herself.

Her legs buckled, and she slowly sunk to the ground. Connie tried to keep herself up, but the force was too strong. It was like gravity was increasing on her. Her body kneeled before Aquamarine, even through Connie's reluctance.

Aquamarine kept that smirk on her face, added with her wicked glare deepening.

Connie could only be disappointed in herself.

* * *

A/N: Start of another three-chapter arc.

Man, do I _love_ three-chapter arcs? Three-chapter arcs are sp good, look at how well the other three-chapter arc did. It went _so_ well! I became so tired of writing that I took the easy way out! Ahahahahaha! (If you're wondering, I was referring to the Bloodstone/G.A.M.E. arc.)

Unfortunately, this three-chapter arc will be the same thing as the last one. About two plots were going on at once the last time. Now, there are three! I'll range them from most important to least important! (Or most words to least words... but I actually don't know which of these plots will be more important.)

Steven, Pearl and Howlite will be A-plot! Connie and Aquamarine will be B-plot! Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst and Kyanite will be C-plot!

Now for this line of the Author's notes, I'm gonna reveal officially that _yes_! **_Civil War_** is happening. Oh, so... _soon_... And look at the cast of characters! There's like... wow, only sixteen people to what I remember. Huh. That's uh... only four more characters than in the _Captain America: Civil War Airport Battle_.

AND! And! We got 199 followers! That's one left till _TWO HUNDRED_! We've gone through so much, guys! Like the Steven Universe hiatus! And the leaks! And this story is also officially _seven_ months old! I, uh... haven't had that good of a milestone. So, uh, seven months! Wooh!

Anyway, tune in for the next chapter of _**Sea of the Universe**_!

Nah, just kidding. Story title's still _**Steven Lazuli**_.

* * *

Breaking News: _Terminal Rogue_ is the last time the Rogue Nation will be the villains, hence _Terminal_.

Next Chapter's Title: "The Pink Monarch" or "New World Order", I'm still deciding.


	43. Chapter 41: New World Order

A/N: Cover changed once again because I'm slow, and _someone_ *ahem* _SsjGokux20_ *cough* loved Pearl enough to create that artwork from Pearl and Steven's interaction in the previous chapter. So, I stole the painting and ran. I ran _far_.

And here we are. Talking about that new cover. Which probably confuses a lot of you guys trying to search for my story with the old cover. Sorry guys, but I change a _lot_ and I can't stick to seeing one thing over and over again.

And it looks like one of those "official" leaks if you squint, so I'm gonna go to clickbait hell. (Spoiler alert, they're _not_ official.)

* * *

Chapter 41: New World Order

* * *

"Well done, Connie," Aquamarine smirked, crossing her arms smugly. "Well done indeed."

Connie struggled to speak. Her throat was stuck, holding words back. She wanted to shout. Scream. Curse. But Aquamarine did something to hold that back, and the emotional part of her mind took over and calmed her down. Her logic faded and she was listening to the magician.

Aquamarine had a wicked grin. She hooked her fingers underneath the human's chin, letting their eyes meet. She waved her wand, _Quarain_ , teasingly in front of Connie.

"You want to do it," the magician told her, "You want to do what your mind and body wants you to do... Pride. Dignity. Worth. You want that. You want that _a lot_. And you know what could help you with _that_?" She smirked, running her fingers down the swordswoman's hair. "...Taking down the mastermind behind all the crimes in Red Cuisine! And you know who that means, don't you?"

Connie's eyes glowed blue, her pupils turning a dull gray. Aquamarine's knowledge was bestowed upon her. The girl's mind was set on _one_ thing now.

Aquamarine tenderly whispered the words into her ear.

"Kill _Neptune_."

* * *

Pearl guided the two into the warehouse, estranged by the fact it wasn't as heavily guarded as she thought a base for Gems would be. The Rogue Nation were probably being sneaky and hiding from them. Because that's what Pearl would do; make it look like everything was normal and the pursuers will think they got the wrong warehouse. But she didn't fall for that. The coordinates of the Gem signal were right in this building.

Though, she couldn't help but feel paranoid... so, she jumped to that conclusion, and ordered Steven and Howlite to stay outside. They reluctantly left Pearl alone, seeing as they did understand her point of view. Steven did remember her asking him about his stealth skills, and those weren't great.

Steven and Howlite did as they were told, calmly stepping out of the warehouse and waiting for their call. While waiting, Steven thought it would be a good way to pass the time by bantering with his fellow teammate.

"So..." Steven began, "Does Pearl seem like she needs a hug?"

Howlite frowned. "I don't know. I've never _hugged_ someone before," she stated.

"Really?"

"Well, last time I saw a hug was between Pearl and Moonstone and that was three months ago." Howlite said, "After that, I don't recall any other hugs. But I don't really think they're _essential_. I mean, it's just wrapping your arms around a person." She shuffled awkwardly, her thoughts being plagued by the imagining of Pyrite doing that to her, or vice versa. It made her stomach flutter.

"Yeah, but... it's a _hug_ ," Steven replied, like it didn't need explaining.

The silver Gem shook her head of any of those evil Pyrite-filled thoughts. "What's so special about a _hug_?" she asked skeptically.

"Well... it's... It's like sharing your warmth. Also, a sign of getting closer to the person you hug. And, having a personal connection with that person that doesn't restrict physical touch." he explained. Howlite shrugged along with it, already knowing this. Steven noticed she was drifting away. " _But_! It's like a sign of love for each other. You know, it's like a promise. Once you hug, you're forever friends. You can't go back on a hug."

" _Really_?" Howlite asked, which was kinda funny to the demigem because he just said the same thing moments ago.

"That's what I think," Steven answered. "What I believe. And I won't abandon those who I've hugged."

"Interesting point of view..." she remarked suspiciously, her eyes taking an interest to the ground.

"Oooh!" Steven piped up excitedly. "I realized the best way to phrase this! _Hugs_ are like the _watered-_ down version of _kisses_!" After saying it, his new smile faded, and his tone became mild. "You know what kisses are, right?"

Howlite's face burned. She tried to hide it. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Of course I know what those are."

Meanwhile, Pearl snuck through the warehouse, sticking to the shadows and avoiding sunlight from the windows. She could feel everything going on in the hallway she was skimming through. From the vibration of the cement to the quiet sound of the wind, Pearl was sensing for anyone in the warehouse. At the very least, a sign that there were Gems here activating a homing beacon.

Maybe it was just her precognitive thinking or her paranoia of the registration act and Jade's statement, but it didn't come to her before that these Gems would accept any other Gems into their refuge. She had a basic mindset, clouded by being prepared to face the worst. And the fact that Pearl had never gone into these type of refuge situations because her missions for the past ten years often involved humans, in which she couldn't blend in with.

Pearl had taken up chess as a hobby recently. She had liked the game of its simple strategic and tactical foreground, that playing against the world's best strategists and coming up with all militarized plans before them felt like a good boost to her morale. But after living with Gems at the Revolution base, she found it harder to win against Gems because they had the same calculative " _brains"_ as she did. When competing with her teacher, Moonstone's experience and confidence was a challenge for her, but it made her realize how one's composure _really does_ make a difference to people.

Pearl started trying out different ways of starting the chessboard, by adding numbers on the opposite side and unbalancing the chess pieces. It became a daily thing for her to do, with experimenting different strategies of two sides. She had seen Howlite being bored of the chess set when playing with Pyrite, but became completely obsessed with it when she found out Pearl loved playing around with it. It's how Pearl found out Howlite's inner fangirl for her. She was appreciative of the support, and kind of glad she was admired by a _Gem_ of all things. And an _ex-prince_ who acts all professional, no less.

There was once a time this week when she encountered Howlite for a game of chess. It sounded boring in Pearl's view, but Howlite kept grinning like an idiot at her request... only for the ex-prince to become frustratedly happy while losing at the twentieth move. She didn't expect Howlite to have admired her so much, even after she disregarded her unfairly when Onyx attacked. Which was a week ago. She didn't know someone like her could have so much faith in her. It reminded her of when she followed Rose around for five thousand years and would practically die for her. That much faith and admiration for someone was dangerous in hindsight. It's a good thing Howlite had Pyrite to obsess over so she didn't have to carry the same emotional baggage as Pearl.

Pearl got to the end of a hallway and peeked a corner, to a giant room that looked new and unused. It was gray. There were cuboid pillars holding up the roof. The windows were tiled and tinted. And there was nobody in the room, except for a Gem homing beacon.

 _Well, it's a trap._ Pearl lamented. _Honestly, I could've done better than this if my head weren't full of other plans._

Pearl sighed as she brought out a spear from her gemstone, and the Gem destabilizer formula in her other hand. She crept over to the homing beacon, expecting some kind of cage to be set off. But with each step, the tiny anxious part of her mind grew significantly. Something was wrong. She knew it in her bones. She could feel it in her skin. Someone was playing with her.

The Knight reached the homing beacon. Without a second thought, she destroyed it with an arching stab of her spear. It was no use to her, and she personally didn't like it sitting in this room with no purpose but catching her attention.

The air moved.

She turned as quick as lightning and threw her spear just as fast. The spear hit right next to the target, who she recognized from nearly two months ago.

The boy who murdered his father.

The bio-weapon was clad in the same armor as when he infiltrated their base. And what's more disconcerting was the fact that he was supposed to be in a maximum security prison underground, which no man has ever escaped. Pearl wasn't even notified about it. How did he even escape and have the time to set this up without getting anyone's attention? This was the man who murdered the Revolution Commander, how did he _flee_?

"Sloppy," Zack remarked, touching the spear. "You could've at least tried to hit me instead of creating useless dramatic tension."

"How did you get out?" Pearl demanded, glaring daggers at the boy. "And accomplish even this? Without anyone notcing. Or your _gear_? How did you get those so quickly?"

"Magic users," Zack replied as if it was obvious. "You know I've got friends out there."

Pearl realized she never thought once about tracking those magic users. Howlite, Pyrite and Moonstone reported it, but she just didn't have time to make a warrant.

"It's useless if you think those two out there could help you now," Zack interrupted her contemplating.

"You really think you could defeat us—"

The boy interrupted with a giant sigh and a heave of his shoulders.

"It's cause I'm not here to fight." he groaned distastefully.

Pearl raised a brow.

"I'm here to make a proposal. I'm going to help your reputation, since I could see that's not doing well for you." He put his hands around each other, rubbing it, before putting them behind his back.

"How're you going to do that?" Pearl asked in a low, sarcastic tone.

"I've always believed myself as a necessary evil. You could ask Steven that." Zack shrugged, chuckling at the name of the demigem.

Pearl kept her eyes on him, waiting for him— _daring_ him to make a wrong move.

"My plan, is to _create_ propaganda in your favor." he informed.

The Knight scowled at the idea.

* * *

Amethyst may or may not have turned into a falcon to fly back to Beach City to selfishly ride on the Amedot ship.

The giant bronze ship had been hovering over the ocean for a while now, doing nothing. So, Amethyst thought to take it for a spin. It had been a while since she went inside, but the interior was much bigger than she remembered. She gazed at the hardwood designs, and the cozy atmosphere of the ship. She couldn't imagine one Gem creating this boat, all on her own... and in three months flat. That was simply impossible. It had to have been a team effort, like Ruby helping out on the hull or something. But the product was there, holding a mass amount of alien tech.

And she didn't remember it being this big.

For some reason, even though the barn Peridot had made this in was about a good fifty feet across, the ship was at least a hundred and fifty feet in length. It was a _big_ boat.

Amethyst set up the ship in five minutes, due to Peridot being a completely crazy genius.

Amethyst went to the ship's control room that would have to be entered through a staircase from the top, and... there were a couple of seats readied in front of a manual control panel. In the middle of the room though, there was a raised desk with a hole in it. It looked suspiciously like a keyhole... and _Parry_ , her transformative sword, was the key.

Amethyst shrugged, put two and two together, and inserted Parry into the keyhole.

Lights flared up and the ship's engine hummed deeply. Amethyst could feel her feet shaking. Then, a hologram lit up over the desk and recognized Amethyst standing in front of it.

 _"Hello, Amethyst,"_ a sampled, computer-like voice, greeted.

"Uh, _hi_..." Amethyst replied to the computer awkwardly, looking around for its camera so she could be polite to the technology. She didn't want to disregard it, it must've been hard work for Peridot.

 _"Where would you like to go?"_ the ship's AI asked.

Amethyst hummed, "Antarctica."

The hologram brought up a globe of the Earth and showed the waypoint from Beach City to Antarctica. It took Amethyst half an hour to get here, even with the Warp Pad. So, she was surprised to see the hologram calculate a prediction of how long it would take to get there, and it was _five_ minutes.

"This ship's _fast_ ," she whistled. She started looking around as the ship floated over Beach City, the bronze plating turning white with energy, an electromagnetic field flaring up around the ship to protect it from the speed, and blasted off. It didn't really create a sonic boom, or any damage really. Peridot really was crazy, since space travel didn't really have sonic booms because there is no air in space, and Peridot had found a way to negate that on _land_.

Amethyst explored more corridors of the ship, and found a clean workshop that she found cute. She imagined them travelling around the world and Peridot just huddled in here, making something, while she annoyed her. That would seem fun.

 _You promised to come back,_ she thought to herself sadly, _and I'll wait for you._

Amethyst explored more of the giant room, as the workshop was one small part of it. There was a kitchen, quite thoughtful. A few rooms with closed doors that Amethyst peeked in and found to be bedrooms. Going further, she stumbled into Peridot's limb enhancers, positioned neatly and encased in glass.

"Hmm," Amethyst hummed, eyes watering.

 _"Location nearby in one minute."_

Amethyst didn't have to answer, but she did. And she never heard herself so weak before.

" _Y-yeah_... _thanks_ ," she responded weakly.

* * *

Lapis had never thought back on her meeting with Peridot when she was dead. She didn't want to dwell on that, the feeling of failure. She had even thought that Peridot wasn't there, but maybe as a hallucination. She said she was doing fine, even though she was in a dimension where Lapis could only enter by dying. So, the blue Gem had her suspicions. But if she were to go to Homeworld, she'd get struck down for sure with their advanced technology. And she wouldn't be as strong as she was on Earth, since there wouldn't be water there. Since Peridot reassured there was nothing wrong, then Lapis would have to hold that to her.

That amount of blind trust had Lapis regretting in no time. But after a while, there still weren't any Homeworld ships, so... good job on the technician's part.

Lapis was rebuilding the drug cartel, since a pair of Gems destroyed it. And they were from the Revolution. Lapis struggled to contain herself to curse at Pearl for destroying her foundation, even having thoughts to go there and flood the place. But no... that would be too easy for them to realize that it was _her_ who held this place together. But, eh... they probably already knew it was her since they caught some of her employees and probably interrogated them before putting them in jail.

As Neptune, she had a rep to hold. So, answering questions like where she had been for the past week or so needed to be carefully crafted.

"I was dead," Neptune answered sarcastically.

Well, she used the explanation multiple times before that Neptune had another life other than this. So, his employees would reply:

"Oh, so it's just family matters." Reese said casually.

"That reminds me, Reese. Your son married yet?" said a guy, named Tony, to his right.

"Nah. He's only fourteen." Reese replied, shaking his head.

"Huh," Tony scratched his nose. "Then must be some other guy I was thinkin' about."

"You're probably referring to _Ray_." Neptune remembered something vaguely about that name and a son being married. Reese nodded.

"Oh, _right_ ," Tony put his palms into his pockets. "that guy. I remember now."

"Uh, don't want to alarm you boss, but uh..." said another man who just got off the phone, "...seventeen of our guys were just sent to the hospital with broken bones and other injuries."

"Another one of these," Neptune sighed. "I'll get to it."

Neptune was about to turn to the exit, when it was suddenly blown off with an explosion. The double-steel-doors were ripped from the hinges, smoke snaking its way across the walls. A shadowy figure was in the smoke, and it stepped into the warehouse-sized room with a bloody hammer in its hand and a stick with a star on it on the other.

Neptune recognized the wand.

"You three. Out," Neptune ordered. The three employees started running for the emergency exit, when the intruder lashed out at them. It sent a lightning bolt running for them, but Neptune caught it in time. The three escaped.

Lapis stared at the intruder, noticing the familiar face and complexions to it. Then, she realized it was familiar because it was her disciple and Steven's best friend. Connie was there, holding a bloody hammer and Quarain. Something was wrong.

The lens in Connie's sunglasses had completely fallen off, but the glasses still stuck to her face. Her attire had been ragged and cut in places, and her skin looked bruised and bloodied. Connie was huffing tiredly, and at the same time, in a beastly fashion. Her hair was in a tangled mess, and Lapis swore she saw dried up tear trails down the girl's eyes.

"No." Neptune muttered under his breath. "No. No. _No_."

"I've been beating the hell out of people for hours now," Connie growled, her voice menacing and broken. Lapis inwardly choked and shuddered at her tone. "You're _Neptune_ right?"

Lapis said nothing in reply.

"I _said_ ," Connie put more ferocity in her words, and raised her tone so much that Lapis couldn't recognize the girl she taught in her. "YOU'RE _NEPTUNE_ RIGHT?!"

"Yes," " _he"_ replied in a chilly tone.

Connie bared her teeth in an animalistic nature. Neptune stomped his foot on the ground, bringing her attention there. Connie immediately looked around with wide, frantic eyes, looking for the real attack of that distraction. Neptune couldn't use her water abilities on her, or else that would cause suspicion. So, in a split second of decision-making, Neptune leaped at Connie and pinned her down. The girl's eyes widened, her breath hitching. And then Neptune noticed the awkward position they were in.

 _Please don't have nightmares about this,_ Lapis thought. She didn't want to calm her down by talking, since that would raise _suspicion_ once again. But she didn't want to hurt her. _Think, how do I finish this without hurting her and revealing myself?_

"You're strong for a girl," Lapis inwardly berated herself for how weird that sounded. "I'm gonna give you a chance to stand down."

Connie yelled, slamming Neptune's helmet with the bloody hammer. She followed up by conjuring lightning through Quarain, striking him in the gut. Neptune's helmet cracked and the gigawatt of energy crackled through him with flashing lights. Neptune crashed into the opposite wall a hundred feet away, spiderweb cracks creeping pver the concrete. Neptune fell and rolled over on the ground, breathing out a puff of smoke. Connie wasn't holding back, Lapis had underestimated her.

 _Alright, my body is burning. Cool._ Lapis sarcastically mused. She looked up at Connie, who wasn't being herself. She was being cruel, unforgiving and zombie-like. She had only one motivation that Lapis could detect: kill the enemy. Frost scattered across the floor, as Lapis thought of how to knock Connie out subtly. Put her in ice? Hypothermia would be dangerous. Lose the water vapour around her? Don't know what that'll do.

Connie raised Quarain over her head. The room seemed to get smaller.

 _The wand!_ Lapis remembered. _It was taken by Aquamarine. No way Connie could get her hands on... Shit! It was her! Of course!_

The girl swung her other arm, throwing the bloody hammer at Neptune's face. Lapis caught the hammer by its handle, noticing fully that it was drenched in blood.

 _Oh stars, Connie. What has she done to you? What did she make you_ do _?_

Lapis threw the hammer to the side, then realized Connie had completely changed the battlegrounds. They were now standing on the roof of a skyscraper, the winds howling in their ears. Lapis glanced at the roads under them, how long that fall would be. She glared at Connie, staring into her eyes. They were a duller gray than the normal black pupils.

Lapis gulped hesitantly, hoping the real Connie could get out somehow. But even then, what's gonna stop her from killing _Neptune_?

 _Please. Please still be my Connie._

* * *

"So, your idea is to make false propaganda. To do something that would be controversial, and make us look good on a gullible scale. Right here, right now?" Pearl asked, her tone making it sound like it was a stupid idea.

"You make it sound like there are flaws in that plan." Zack replied. "At the very least, most of humanity would fall for what I'm about to pull."

"No," Pearl said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No?"

"You think most of humanity is _that_ stupid?" she asked, bringing her fingers up to a level. "I'm not going your way. You have something planned. Either way, you're still going back to your cell."

"Yes," he agreed, nodding his head. "I'll be back in prison either way. _But_ , why don't you try it? Use me as a gateway. I'd still be recognized as public enemy numero uno."

Pearl stalked over to him, changing the topic. "How did you even know how to use that?" she demanded, pointing to the shattered homing beacon.

" _That_? Nothing special." Zack shrugged, changing his standing position to counter Pearl getting closer. She noticed the small difference and stopped, leaving an arm's length of a gap between them. He continued, "Those magic users are _sure_ convenient."

 _Yeah. One thing Homeworld did right was ban magic,_ Pearl thought. _How did those magic users even_ learn _magic in the first place? Was Aquamarine... still alive this whole time, faking her death with magic? Damn it... She must've done that. It sounds like something she'd do._

"They've got a hefty price too. A civilization isolated from the world. Sounds like a place I would like to live in." Zack informed.

"That's your plan," Pearl raised a brow mockingly. "Escape to the magic realm?"

"With a populace of only about... _five_ people? Yeah, one more wouldn't hurt." Zack replied enthusiastically, before lowering it. "But, I can't enter. I'm not proficient in magic... literally _nobody_ else in the world is proficient in magic. Just those five." He raised five fingers, before swishing his hand back to his side. "They die, magic's gone. _Poof_! Avada Kedavra no more."

"Stop," Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry, but... you broke out of prison, set a homing beacon, got yourself the exact same gear back, all done by your friendly magic users in ten hours flat... and you tell me you've got a plan to up my species' reputation by propaganda and uselessly rant to me about magic."

"Yeah," he hung his mouth open to wait for his brain to come up with a good reason. He finally got one. "It's cause I don't really care."

"Well, why don't we put you in a block of ice then," Pearl replied. "You don't really care. I could lead you to your new home, freeze you in a cryogenic chamber... _just like your father did_."

Zack raised a finger, collecting his composure. " _Okay_ , that was _rude,_ " he stated with a sigh. "You didn't need to go there."

Outside, Howlite was flying and peeking through the windows. Steven was straddled on her shoulders, since he was small enough for Howlite to conveniently carry around there. She had insisted on it.

"I don't like that guy," Howlite remarked. "Seems too shady."

"Me neither," Steven replied. "He seems _so_ familiar. But I can't place _why_."

Back inside, Pearl and Zack were at a casual standoff, looking for who would go first.

"C'mon, use my plan, make me bait, and then you can put me in prison. I already have the bombs set—"

Pearl burst, "You have _bombs_?"

Zack stayed still for a moment. " _Oops_ ," he cocked his head to the side. "I forgot all about that."

"How do you forget— _Never_ mind," Pearl tipped her head down, glaring at Zack. "So, your master plan is _this_? You're gonna threaten a terrorist attack just like Amber did?" Zack seemed offended, as if to say, _hey, she DID the terrorist attack, but my plan did NOT._ "And then after your threat, and humanity recognizes that a human is the evil one, the Gems save the day. Tell me how bias and a stretch that sounds. They're not gonna fall for it."

"Ah! That's where you're wrong. I'm pulling the wires here. If I can make a performance just as believable as Amber..."

"Even so, I don't believe you." Pearl bluntly stated. "You're going back to prison, without your plan."

"Well, psshh, _fine_." he replied, raising his hands up to his shoulder level. "Don't do my plan anyway, because you're not gonna take advantage of the scenario for your own people. You'd rather create a civil war with your Gemkind than promote peace another way. Why don't you take the route where everyone lies and everyone be fine with it because that's the way the world works. It's a new world order. Nobody can handle the truth about the simple things like Gems wanting to help humans with so little evidence to your efficiency. But, if you show you're finally saving them, successfully, they'll give you the chance. Plus, I've already got reputation that I will do what I say, like killing the commander of a powerful government. More concrete support. People won't even understand why would I even help you. Makes no sense. It's _perfect_."

Pearl's mouth hung slightly open. Not because of how the world works in his view, but by one little point.

"You. That information about the civil war. How?" she demanded.

He waved his fingers around, " _Magic_."

* * *

Ruby and Sapphire stumbled across a giant ice crater in the middle of a hailstorm. The blizzard was strong, impeding their vision and hearing.

"Is this what you mean by ice everywhere?!" Ruby shouted through the howling winds.

"Not what I expected!" Sapphire responded as loud as she could, "But we're getting there!"

"How long!?" Ruby asked, her voice diminished from the volume of the storm.

"A few minutes! Or an hour! Worst case scenario... we never find her!"

"Wow, ya _think_!?"

They kept trudging through thd snow and frost that kept creeping over their bodies. Sapphire wasn't concerned at all, but Ruby was getting annoyed with it. She let out a fiery breath and evaporated the ice around her. They kept going further until they saw a shadow in the blizzard.

They stopped once they got nearer to the cyan Gem, who was sitting laid-back in the middle of the blizzard. Her hair whipped around her head, her blue eyes narrowed into a squint. She listened to the hailstorm and kept laying there, patient with wasting her life in that spot.

" _Kyanite_!" Sapphire exclaimed.

Said Gem blinked. She looked back to see the pair of Gem that made up Garnet to be standing there, waiting. She reached out for Sapphire, touching her shoe, realizing she wasn't an illusion.

"Sa- _Sapphire_ ," Kyanite responded, her face brimming with new joy. "You're here."

Sapphire clasped a hand around hers, helping her up. Kyanite stood a few inches taller than her, so now she was looking down instead of up, and the other way around went for Sapphire.

"Yeah, we're here!" Ruby was the one talking. Kyanite forgot she was even there. "We waited! You didn't come! And now we have to drag you back home!"

"Home? You mean, the _Temple_?" Kyanite shook her head. "No, that's not my home. My home is with Jet. He's still alive there. Both my parents are alive! I-I wanted to thank you, but... I was too excited to meet them again!"

"Do you have _no_ regard for your own existence?" Ruby demanded with eyes half-closed. "Onyx poofed you!"

"He apologized for it!" Kyanite shouted through the blizzard.

"Kyanite, we voted not to spare her." Sapphire said. "It was someone else who stood up for her."

"I'm grateful," she replied.

"Hey, you're selling yourself short, Sapphy. You stuck up with that overpowered rascal. Pearl and I were going to kill her!" Ruby informed.

"Why do you keep saying " _her"_?!" Kyanite asked. "Jet wanted to be a " _he_ "! Don't you remember?!"

"Oh, right!" Ruby exclaimed. "We forgot to tell you..."

Ruby explained to Kyanite that Jet wasn't Jet, but actually a hallucinogenic Onyx. Kyanite took a few moments to register the whole thing.

"So, Obsidian's been dead the whole time..." Kyanite whispered softly, her face falling sad. "But... at least... there's _Onyx_. There's someone to look forward to meeting!"

"She wanted to be alone! She doesn't want you seeing her like this! Until she's ready, she'll confront you!" Sapphire informed confidently. "But for now, come back to the Temple! Onyx would want that for you!"

"Even though she's a freaking _psycho_!" Ruby added bluntly.

Kyanite glanced at the two.

"You really are like ice and fire!" she shouted.

"Gee! You didn't notice?!" Ruby retorted.

* * *

Lapis was smacked across the roof, landing at the edge of the skysraper. She fell onto a lower platform, immediately picking herself up and pushing herself backwards, just in time to avoid a laser sword from stabbing her head. Connie had jumped onto the platform, which was only hanging by a few metal poles, so when it shook, Lapis' heart caught into her throat, worried that Connie might fall.

Connie swung the laser sword to her side, Quarain having an infinite amount of purposes. Neptune took a few heavy breaths, taking a few cautious steps back and forth.

"Stop it!" Neptune cried out, "You're no match for me!"

"Are you _kidding_?!" Connie's tone was condescending. "You're a joke! All you've been doing is avoiding my attacks. You're not even fighting back..." She swung the sword at Neptune and yelled, "FIGHT _BACK_!"

Lapis dove towards the edge of the platform, looking like she chose suicide by falling four hundred feet. But Lapis grabbed the edge of the metal platform and swung her body to the other side of the platform, bouncing against the building wall and landing behind Connie. The girl's hair flailed wildly from the winds. When she turned back and attacked Lapis, the Gem thought how barbarous she looked with her hair down her eyes. It seemed fitting to this other side of Connie.

Then again, this side was trying to kill her. So, Lapis wanted nothing to do with her. The blue Gem tried to think of a way to defeat her.

 _Alright. Can't touch the wand. That'll permanently damage me. Make her drop it? With her firm grip? Probable._ She thought.

Lapis started striking back, which surprised Connie. The girl lashed out a few strikes, while Lapis struck her in the fist or wrist. So far, it wasn't working. Lapis was hoping she didn't need to use full strength and break her wrist, but as she tried to swing a haymaker, Connie noticed where she was hitting and jumped back, her boots hitting the platform harder than she should have. Fortunately, it didn't unhinge the platform.

 _Alright, she knows._ Lapis contemplated. _What else? Any good ideas, me? Targeting Aquamarine seems good right now. But where would she be?_

The blue Gem looked underneath her. The whole city looked small from where she was standing.

 _She has to be somewhere in there. She gave Connie the wand. That means I only have this place to search..._

Lapis closed her eyes, sensing every water molecule in the entire _Red Cuisine_. She could see _everything_. The rivers, the sewers, the pipes, toilets, sinks, drinks... literally everywhere with water.

Once she got a sense of it, she reverted back to reality and caught a split second of Connie charging at her with the wand arched behind her. Lapis moved only a few instances late, the laser sword catching her by the arm. Neptune yowled as the heat seared her forearm and cut it off.

White blood exposed.

Connie noticed it and realized she was a Gem.

* * *

Howlite and Steven were quiet after Pearl explained why she accepted Zack's proposal. One of them wanted to say, _I can't believe you agreed to that._ But they couldn't say it. They didn't know how to do it with the plan already set by the enemy standing right there.

"Nice gloves," Zack told Steven.

"Thanks, this was... a gift." Steven said reluctantly.

Zack, even through the helmet, seemed to have a suspicious glint in his eye.

"Look, I'm trying my best here, and you guys just seem to continuously discriminate me just because I killed the commander." Zack informed nonchalantly.

"More reason not to trust you." Howlite shrugged as she stood a little bit in front of Steven protectively.

Zack turned to the leader. "Pearl, you brought a _kid_ here—"

"You don't get to call me by that name," Pearl said with crossed arms. "Plus, you're not too far off. Unless, you count mentally."

"Alright," Zack replied. "but if the plan goes well, be warned of my ego. I'll start calling you on a first name basis because of me being the hero here... _Knight_."

"I highly doubt that," Howlite sniped.

"You're gonna doubt me right _now_?" Zack asked incredulously. "I could just blow this place to hell if I wanted to. But I'm being a nice guy and saving your reputation. Could you at least lower your hostile levels?"

"Reputation isn't everything," Howlite muttered, looking to the ground. She glanced at Pearl with a sad look, hoping her idol would do something. But even Pearl was looking dejected.

Steven wanted to say something, but he kept it to himself, thinking he was too petty to have any input in this. The demigem just glanced at Zack, who noticed and nodded his head at him, like he acknowledged his existence. Steven felt a little bit at ease, but he felt something was wrong. His instincts were telling him to do something about it, but he didn't know what.

* * *

A/N: Hey, I made a wikia page for this story! Because a user by the name _Japkot_ told me that I should put this on the Steven Universe fanon wikia, so I made a page there. It's written under the name _AU: Steven Lazuli_. I'm new to wikia, but I'm uh... an _expert_ at reading them, so I got the hang of it pretty quick. ((Note: the wikia page is a Work-in-progress. There's nothing there but satire. I'm working on it.))

IF STEVEN EVER BECOMES AN EVIL, POWERFUL LEADER... CALL HIM _LORD SILICON_. SHORT FOR _LORD SILICON DIOXIDE_. YOU CATCH MY DRIFT? Because... Ya know... Silicon Dioxide (SO2) is the chemical formula of Quartz. And Steven and Silicon start with S. And it just... I just thought about it during chemistry class and thought it was a good idea and wanted to share it.

* * *

I was about to put a note about a suggested Steven Universe fic I found on AO3 here. I felt like it was out of place, but whatever.

It's called _Landslide_. It's a Steven and Lapis, Beach Summer Fun Buddy, AU. It kind of has Lapis taking Steven under her wing and running from the Crystal Gems. You can see why it caught my eye. I thought, maybe you guys would like that fic, since a "mother-Lapis and son-Steven hiding from the Crystal Gems" fic is the reason you got into this the first place, right? Kinda funny how long it's been.

So, go check it out. It's starting out small, has only one chapter. It's really cute and fluffy to me, which I like and love feeling the feels of the fluffy fluff. I like fluff. But I don't think the story is about that, I just feel like it portrays that.

If you guys can alert me on some other SU stuff like this, I'll be free to... I dunno. Read it, I guess. Probably promote it if you think I'm authorized to do it. Am I allowed to do this? I dunno. I don't even have an account there.

* * *

Breaking News: It's the realization of a New World Order. Actually, in retrospect, not really new, but in this fic's world, it ehhh _kinda_ is.

Next Chapter's Title: "The Pink Monarch"


	44. Chapter 42: The Pink Monarch

Chapter 42: The Pink Monarch

* * *

"I don't think this is a viable plan. There's a lot of trust you're putting in him." Howlite solemnly stated. Steven's eyes went to Pearl, expecting her reply and reassurance.

"If it goes well, this should help us politically and complete our mission all the same. If it goes _wrong_ ," Pearl had her hands on her hips and sighed. She closed her eyes, reminding herself of what's to come next week. "It wouldn't matter. He'd prove himself to be a terrorist to the world. We'd be the lesser evil to their eyes. Then we complete our mission."

"Either way, it works out for us?" Howlite asked. She got sold on the idea by Pearl's logic behind it. If it worked out for them, even if it went either way, then what's to worry about? There's no harm in doing something if it didn't make that drastic of a change.

"I have no clue," Pearl replied. Her eyes hardened. "Hopefully, he does what he says he'll do. Even if he does blow the place to hell, we'd look... less evil in public eye."

Steven didn't like moral ambiguity. He didn't like deceiving. Something in him didn't sit well with it. His instinct told him to do something. He didn't know what, but he finally put his input in this conversation.

"And take the chance of hurting innocent civilians?" Steven stated, his darkened eyes fixed on Pearl. She was taken aback by the low growl in his tone. The demigem thought it would be okay to reveal his feelings now before it was too late, hopefully to change Pearl's mind. "Pearl, we're supposed to be heroes of this world, aren't we? We can't take the chance to make us look better while letting people get hurt by this. We can't just do it. It's _wrong_."

Pearl softened up. To her, Steven didn't understand. She wished she could explain. But she didn't know who he really was. She never raised him in the past ten years.

"I only promised to protect this world. I didn't promise to be a _hero_." she said instead.

She didn't mention about promising to his mother, or else he'd have a bigger incentive to influence her onto a different path. Pearl already made her own, Rose had no control over her life anymore.

Zack only listened to part of their conversation. He was about thirty feet away, hacking into the media with a little device. He got irritated by their distrust. Thus, turning to them and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I _promise_ I won't flip the switch and kill thousands of people."

Steven turned to him. For a second, his expression was filled with shock that he heard him, but it dwindled into a cold glare. He was starting to become confident on his own, his will to be independent rising. It might have something to do with growing up and trying to prove to people he was maturing and he mattered. Or it may be of some other influence. Whatever the case, his new stone-faced glare was daunting. This fresh bravery emanating from him was surprising to them.

"I don't want to do this," Steven said after a while, looking at the ground. That intimidating aura soon faded, revealing a child. The white Gem only realized then that he was eleven years-old, and not a ten thousand year-old leader of a rebel group.

Pearl clamped a hand on his shoulder. He looked at it. "You could go home. It's okay." she reassured.

Steven frowned. He didn't get his point across. "I don't want you to do this."

Zack could say some witty insult about him being a crybaby, but he held back.

Howlite was impressed by the seriousness behind the boy. After their meeting, she didn't think he could pose as an intimidating person. He just told her about hugs and kisses, and now he's pulling this off a few moments later. She knew where he was coming from, but she thought siding with Pearl would give a better payoff.

Pearl slid her hand away from his shoulder. He wanted to be in control. He wanted to make decisions for all of them. That's what she concluded when he wanted them to decline this offer. As much as that made her proud to see this side of him, she couldn't let an eleven year-old take the wheel.

She took a moment to muse at the situation, before turning to Zack.

"You have a backup plan for your backup plan, don't you?" she asked.

"Ahh, _Knight_ ," He wagged a finger. "You know me too well."

Pearl sighed. Steven frowned.

Zack tightened his gloves. "Plan is, I'm going to present myself as a necessary evil, like I always do, and this will be broadcast to the world. I present myself as the villain with my messed up history—it'll make a wad of sense to the conspiracy theories or people up to date. Then, after I'm done. You'll take credit for capturing me. Sound good?"

"Why are you helping us?" Steven asked.

"Well, if you want the simple version because you won't understand me," Zack took a few steps on front of Steven, mostly to focus on him. And intimidate. "Let's just say... You got a friend named Zack, right? He wanted to toughen up all the kids in your school by being a necessary evil. To prepare them for the harsh world."

Steven finally realized who he was. "You're..."

"Yes, hello, Steven, took ya long enough. It's okay. There's seven billion people in the world. Very low chance you'd recognize me," Zack informed, patting his shoulder. "Also, helmet won't let you see me. But you recognize me, right? I presume my _elegant_ voice gave it all away."

"Zack, _you_..." the demigem furrowed his brows. His mind clashed with each other, not knowing who this guy was anymore. Right now, to Steven, Zack was the villain.

"Right! Preparing for a show..." Zack turned to the other two. "We're all good with this plan?"

* * *

Antarctica...

"You think you can teleport us out of here?!" Sapphire asked through the blizzard. Kyanite tried to concentrate, but she was too busy thinking about other things.

"What about Amethyst?!" Ruby cried.

"She's fine! I think I saw her turning the other way! I doubt she's with us—"

"Use _future vision_!" Ruby retorted. "Give a correct answer and let's haul ass outta here!"

"I can't teleport..." Kyanite informed meekly.

"What?! I can't hear you!" Ruby shouted, turning to her. "Speak up!"

The cyan Gem raised her voice. "I can't teleport!"

"Then we'll have to get out of here walking!" Ruby shouted, before teasing. "How're you holding up, kid?! Need me to carry you?!"

Kyanite glared, "I'm fine!"

Sapphire contemplated at the ground, before looking up at the sky. "Guys! I think we have our ride! Up _there_!" She pointed to the clouds.

Ruby and Kyanite raised their heads to the skies and saw a giant shadow in the blizzard. It broke through the whirling clouds and stabilized itself around the hailstorm with its force field. Ruby recognized it at once.

"It's the Amedot ship!" she informed, before laughing at the name. " _Ah_ , ha _ha_ ha _ha_!"

"That's so cool! It's finally _moving_! It _never_ moves!" Kyanite exclaimed with a genuine smile, "I thought it was just a trophy too big for the Temple!"

The Amedot ship hovered slightly off the ground, the side of the ship opening up a small compartment, which seemed to be a door. A purple quartz peeked out of the door and waved at them. The three Crystal Gems waved back. Amethyst had a goofy grin on her face.

"I got it working!" Amethyst exclaimed excitedly.

"Not really," Sapphire muttered. Both Ruby and Kyanite heard.

"Come on up, guys!" the purple leader said, swinging her arm up to signify for them to come closer. The three of them glanced at each other and hopped on aboard the Amedot. The door closed, and Amethyst yelled into the inside of the ship. "Next stop! Home!"

 _"Destination: Crystal Temple."_ the computer voice replied.

* * *

Red Cuisine...

Lapis gritted her teeth.

 _I could regenerate this, right? I mean, it's not the wand, just the magic from it... C'mon, please! I didn't lose an arm because of her! Anyone, but her..._

White blood splattered by Neptune's side, who stumbled back. Connie's eyes widened in realization that it was Gem blood. The human growled and raised Quarain.

"Who are you?!" Connie demanded, lightning crackling around the star tip of the wand. "You're _not_ human! Tell me who you _are_!" She emphasized the last word since she kicked her in the chest at the time.

Lapis fell on the unstable platform, making it shake. She swore she heard something crack. It sounded like a few screws just popped out of their place. Not good. She grasped at the burn in her arm, carrying it with her good hand. She almost cried about not being able to have two hands anymore. But then again, the curse was only placed if you touch the wand, not its essence. Or else, the electricity Connie zapped her with would've been permanent. But no, it wasn't there anymore.

The tip of the red blade of light touched the tip of Neptune's helmet.

"Tell me your name."

Lapis grunted, "None of you business."

Connie staggered forward and stabbed her through the face. Neptune's body froze, encasing himself in ice, before breaking apart. Connie fidgeted. That wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to poof.

Connie knelt down to inspect the shattered body, when blue arms wrapped around her from behind and held her still. Connie screamed as she tossed her weight backwards, causing Lapis to topple over with imbalance. The swordswoman was in a headlock, grasping for air, elbowing Neptune's sides. She got the idea to use her wand against the Gem's limbs so it could be permanently damaged. Lapis blocked it by putting up a substantial shield of ice around herself, that way the wand didn't touch her.

Connie struggled against her hold, blood quickly rushing to her face. She yelled, desperate to fight against Neptune, before black spots and small stars clouded her vision. She realized she was blacking out. She started to choke and gag. She was losing air.

Lapis applauded herself for her ingeniousness. She just created a water clone to act as her if things went really south. But her hand was still chopped off. It stung like a thousand punches at titanium. She didn't know where she got the metaphor, but it sufficed.

Connie banged her head against Lapis, who had her nose smashed against the helmet. White blood drooled over her face. The water Gem waited a little longer, Connie had to pass out about now.

The girl kept fighting against her iron hold, legs and arms desperately clawing for freedom.

Until her body went limp in Lapis' arms.

 _Sorry, kid,_ she thought, _you forced my hand to do it. Get it? Hand? Because you sliced off my... never mind, I'm not even talking._

Lapis let go of Connie and inspected her, finding tear marks and more superficial scratches on her face. Her skin was bruised and bloodied too much for an _eleven_ year-old. The water Gem glanced at the wand she held, a spark of rage overflowing her. Lapis encased the wand in a block of ice and took it with her, thinking of disposing it where no magician could find.

She flapped out her wings and soared into the air, her Neptune persona fading into Lapis Lazuli. The Gem hissed at the sting in her nose. She touched it with her only hand and blood went over her fingers. God, that kid was _not_ holding back. She felt a hint of pride, but she also felt... _violated_. It made her shiver inwardly how a Gem would manipulate a kid like that. Then again, like last year, she hated all Gems. Herself included.

Lapis meditated for a while, searching for Aquamarine's position through all the water molecules in the city. She got a signal and immediately went for it, zipping through the air at breakneck speeds.

She was _pissed_.

* * *

The entire television network turned to static.

Immediately, everyone thought it was another Gem attack. They moaned as it had only been a year since the last one, and they weren't prepared for the destruction of another city. Instead, the television broadcast brought itself back up and a human was in front of the camera.

"Hello, inferior morons." Zach greeted, "My name is Zack Samson. You may know my deceased father, Jacob Samson, former leader of your not-so-secret government, the Revolution. And you may have heard from conspiracy theories or to put it more bluntly, the _news_ , that I killed that guy. Pretty remarkable, right? You know what's better? Today, I've just escaped a maximum security jail cell, that's ten hundred feet underground, and planted bombs somewhere in Red Cuisine."

The whole city in Red Cuisine stilled themselves.

"Yeah, you might be wondering... Why Zack? Why do this? Well, to answer your question, it's because I don't give a shit. I do whatever the hell I want. I wanna kill my father, I do it. I wanna escape an underground prison made for _Gems_ , I do it. I wanna plant bombs in the middle of a crowded city—you know me well enough by now, I do it."

Steven clenched his fists. He was standing a few feet away from the man who's threatening an entire city. He could prevent this. But he wasn't. The demigem glanced over at Pearl and Howlite, who were standing around with arms crossed.

Pearl was amused by it. She didn't think Zack would act out as showman-like as he was doing now. He already set up the ground rules. He revealed to the whole world that it was him doing this.

"Now, right here, I have the trigger," Zack held up a metallic stick with a red button on it. "This right here'll destroy... I think, 7th avenue."

He pressed it.

"Oops."

Pearl twitched. Howlite didn't sense any explosions. Steven bared his teeth, anger rising.

 _He said he wouldn't do it, but HE JUST DID—_

Steven didn't notice that Pearl was holding his arm tightly until she applied enough pressure to hurt him. He was a few steps away from messing everything up.

"Hahaha, _kidding_." Zack shrugged.

The city now started relaxing, almost half of them now going on about their daily lives. They all thought he was just a joke, and that's what he wanted.

Zack counted to three.

"Kaboom! Hahaha! I've always wanted to do that!"

Steven felt a wave of distress wash over him. No, it wasn't his distress, but a whole crowd's. He could hear the wailing in his head. Pearl turned to Howlite, who nodded gravely at her. The vibration finally hit them seconds afterwards.

"That was Sonderhen Building. Hmmm... Tough luck. Tallest skyscraper. Top half of it blew up, I suppose." Zack remarked calmly.

Pearl held Steven tighter, as he was growing harder to restrain. Howlite joined and helped Pearl with the demigem, pulling him back a couple steps with her enhanced strength.

"I could hear the city _screaming_." said Zack. "Oh, what music to my ears." He leaned back and twirled the faux-trigger in his hands. "I'm gonna have a heck of a time. Now, you know I'm in _serious business_."

The city listened and hung to every word he said. They were waiting in suspense what he was going to say next. Steven wanted to scream, but that would alert everyone that he was there... that someone could've done something but chose not to. He felt guilty. Far too guilty.

"But it's fine, I just wanted to have your attention." Zack eyed Steven from underneath his helmet, rolling his eyes. He turned his attention back to the camera. "I'm going to fill you in on a little secret. It's about your society. How you view the Gems..."

The city went deeply silent and listened.

Zack glanced at the three Gems, turning the camera to them.

"'Cause your _Gem heroes_ are standing in the room with me right now. Watching it all _happen_."

Pearl's grip loosened.

* * *

Lapis heard an explosion rock the air currents and blew the clouds apart.

She turned and saw the building she left Connie on, incinerated fifty feet from the top. Lapis' pupils shrunk, fear settling in her chest. Her body went limp as realization went through her brain. It shut down any movement or control she had over her body. It took her a few moments to register, watching the fires burn over what's left of the building. She just left Connie to that explosion.

"Oh _god_... come on... _N-No_." She bared her teeth, swaying her head around to keep herself from looking at the damage. "This _has_ to be a trick! Something Aquamarine had done! There's no way... No way she's _dead_. I just lost her and now I'm gonna lose her _again_! Dammit to _effing_ _HELL_!"

Something interrupted her.

 _"It would be a tragedy, indeed,"_ a voice echoed in her mind. _"Since Steven was the one who caused this to happen."_

"What? _Aquamarine_!" Lapis shouted, her chest burning a fiery determination. She wanted to kill this son of a bitch. "Where _are you_?!" _And what do you mean Steven caused this...?_

 _"Oh, don't you watch the news anymore? Seems that Steven let a terrorist blow up a bomb just for propaganda's sake. It also metaphorically blew up in the kid's face. Everything's going downhill."_ Aquamarine informed, _"Now, as much as I'd like to say I left her to die... I'm not that merciful. I have my doll with me right here..."_

Lapis realized what she meant by _doll_ and clenched her only fist so hard it started to bleed over already dried blood. "You sick son of a bitch. I swear to to the _universe_ , if you so much as lay a _finger_ on her—or harm a _single_ strand of hair—"

 _"Too late,"_ Aquamarine replied seductively.

Anger skyrocketed through levels Lapis had never felt before. She hadn't gotten this angry with Amber. The closest thing was when she flooded the desert. Now the nearby ocean waves rose hundreds of feet, swirling around into a vortex and raining down hell for the sorry lowland countries. There were storms, tsunamis, hurricanes, small earthquakes... The sewer pipes and the fire hydrants in the city exploded.

Lapis' eyes turned white.

" _AQUAMARINE_!" she screamed and the oceans trembled. "YOU'RE _DEAD_! I'M GOING TO DESTROY EVERY LAST BIT OF YOUR GEM, YOU HEAR ME?!"

Her voice echoed through the city.

The water goddess zoomed into the Red Cuisine at speeds so fast she inherited a cone of wind around her. It only took a few moments for her to burst through buildings to get to where Aquamarine was. As usual, the enemy was standing around in a warehouse, because there was an ample amount of abandoned warehouses in the city. The ocean Gem landed in front of the blue magician with a landing that cracked the concrete floors.

Lapis wasted no time catching her by the collar with one hand and stabbing her in the stomach with a sharp water tendril. The dagger-like weapon popped out of her back.

Aquamarine stumbled forth, eyes blinking in realization.

"N-no... _Wait_..." she croaked.

There was genuine fear in her voice. All her confidence stripped away in a single stab. She didn't expect it to go so badly for herself.

Lapis growled in response, shoving her nub deeper into Aquamarine, the water spikes growing and striking every point in her body. Every sensory ligament wailed in agony, shutting down all process in her Gem. Blood dripped from her body. Aquamarine's baby blue eyes looked up at cold, angry black ones. There seemed to be no sign of soul in them, only _death_.

"You don't deserve _mercy_ ," Lapis gritted her teeth. "You don't deserve _death_ either."

Lapis' body smoked of a dark, wispy aura. It smelled awful, like the bodies of a thousand rotting corpses. Her eyes turned blacker than night, like a demon had possessed her.

"You... you're _Death_ itself..." Aquamarine gasped.

Lapis lifted Aquamarine up by the wound, using her now free hand to create a water scythe. Aquamarine screamed, everything she felt in her exploded in a combustion of senses. Her own weight being balanced by all the water touching her nerves... it ransacked her brain how much torture she was in.

"No..." Connie's voice squirmed.

Lapis glanced at the floor, where Connie's body lay, rugged and weak. A trail of blood followed Connie from a puddle of red in the far side of the room. The girl was crawling her way towards them, trying to reach for her. Lapis softened, her aura of death fading away.

"...don't hurt her..." the girl pleaded, for some reason caring for the magician. Lapis looked into her eyes, they were still a dull gray. She was still in her control... begging for the freak to be released. "...don't do it..."

Lapis contemplated at this for a moment, before bringing Aquamarine to eye level. Which was slightly beneath Lapis. The blue Gem wanted her to feel weak and _powerless_...

"What the hell... did you _do_ to her?!"

"I'm sorry..." Aquamarine stared right at her.

"No, you're _not_!" Lapis twisted her nub in Aquamarine's body, everything in her body moving at te same time, touching _everything_. Aquamarine yelled in agony.

"No!" Connie shouted, voice raspy. She mustered up all her energy, trying to get to them. Dragging her weak body over the whole room felt like scraping your skin against the wall. "Don't hurt her _please_!"

"Connie... _Connie_..." Lapis shook, wracked with grief. She couldn't bare see Connie fight her with all that determination. But she would rather die than see Connie beg for Lapis to let go of her torturer, and let her free of punishment. "No... not you... please be quiet..."

Aquamarine felt the energy of her wand in Lapis' pocket. It was so near, yet so far.

She looked at Lapis, who was focused on Connie. Then, she muttered a spell that made purple hieroglyphics flutter out of her body, melting Lapis' control over her away. The magician whispered another spell, flying her wand through Lapis' pocket and into hers. The ocean Gem froze the wand around Aquamarine the moment she felt something different, then used the scythe to cut Aquamarine's hand off.

"NO!" Connie struggled to get up, but fell pathetically. The oceans around the world fell just like her.

The wand skittered across the floor with a fading hand clamped around it.

"How _dare_ you?" Lapis demanded, her body shaking violently at the sight of Connie in her mind. She was broken... Lapis hated being broken. Lapis hated it even more when the ones she cared about broke. It seemed unreal to even be in this situation, but Lapis could feel reality laughing at her. As if, this was her payment of coming back to life.

Aquamarine glared up at the ocean Gem. "There are some things worse than death..."

That was true.

" _Why_..." Lapis' voice trembled, her vision blurring. "... _Why_ are you doing this?"

"Because that's what I do to people that take what doesn't belong to them." Aquamarine replied, referring to the wand. Lapis thought there was more to that. "I let them _suffer_."

They glanced to Connie, who passed out from blood loss.

Aquamarine smirked, that facade of begging for forgiveness wiped out completely, having the same Aquamarine back. She started to fade, particles of light shining around her. "Have fun fixing her up."

Lapis growled and shot ice spikes at her neck. Aquamarine choked, her neck impaled, as she teleported away. The ocean Gem turned to find her wand. It was gone. Her shoulders sagged, but they still hurt from being too tense.

She immediately went to Connie, turning her on her back, and opening one of her eyes.

They were black. They weren't gray anymore.

Lapis sighed as she heaved Connie up into her arms, the sickly scent of blood tickling her nose. The ocean Gem stared at Connie's broken body, before her water wings sprung out and lifted them into the air.

* * *

"Woah. There's a big storm coming along, guys." Amethyst informed.

The Crystal Gems peered through the driver's screen and watched dark clouds go by as the raging tides under them grew more and more unstable. Ruby sniffed, unimpressed by the climates.

"Oh, stars," Sapphire suddenly said.

" _What_?" Ruby demanded.

"Lapis is mad. Pearl made a mistake." Sapphire informed. Ruby glanced outside again, understanding the situation.

"What did Pearl do? Did she piss her off or something?"

"No... Pearl tried to create propaganda and blew up a building... and was also caught being identified with it... along with Steven and a howlite." Sapphire informed. Amethyst scowled at the thought of that actually being _real_. The prophect continued, "Lapis... she's mad because Aquamarine... did things to Connie."

"Aquamarine? _The magician_?" Ruby asked. Kyanite felt her stomach flip.

Sapphire interlocked her fingers together, holding her chin up. "This won't bode well. For any of us."

* * *

 _Add a little bit more icing to the cake,_ Zack thought quickly as Steven rushed at him.

"HELP!" Zack cried, taking off his helmet to reveal a teenager. "I'm only twelve years-old and these psychopaths told me to do this! I had to tell you guys or else—PLEASE! _ANYONE_! HELP! You don't actually believe a _twelve year-old_ could've done this—"

The city of Red Cuisine gasped at the display.

Steven roared and punched him in the face. Zack let out a high-pitched whimper that sold the audiences. The demigem struck him in the face a few more times, the bio-weapon's smirk widening with every fake whimper. The camera couldn't see him anyway. Pearl went for the camera and shut it off. Howlite stood, _petrified_.

"HELP! HELP ME!" Zack screamed sarcastically, immediately starting maniacal laughter. Of course he wasn't twelve years-old. He didn't even know his own age. "HAHAHAHA!"

Pearl couldn't believe it. She got _tricked_. She'd been so used to a single-minded event that she didn't expect _this_ to happen. She was used to seeing things from her perspective, that she didn't think of everyone else's. She didn't think he would pull the human card, if it was even valid... he'd been so much of a villain she didn't expect it to work. Now the whole world has proof not to trust the Gems. She was sure she was going to get bad stares from everyone in the Revolution. How the leader of the Revolution fell into a false image of what they saw in her. They'd all be disappointed.

Everything went to utter shit the moment she trusted Zack to blow up a building for propaganda.

Her gauntlet lit up, along with Howlite's. Pearl looked at it, seeing feedback explode. Howlite crushed her transmitter, before going to Pearl and destroying hers, out of impulse. Pearl looked at Howlite in shock, as said silver Gem looked back at her, aghast, before turning away, realizing all repercussions of what they all decided and hid her face in her hands. Pearl, not knowing what to do, tried to comfort her. She wrapped her arms around the distraught Gem, who leaned against Pearl's chest.

Didn't matter if she wasn't acting professional. Didn't matter that Pearl was hugging her. (You don't go back on that.) Didn't matter she was crying in front of her idol. She just couldn't take it. _Failure_.

Steven gripped Zack's collar tightly, teeth grinding so hard it hurt.

The teenager was laughing, even through a bruised face. "C'mon. Go ahead and kill me. I'd win, either way. I'll break out of prison once again and you _know it_. Kill me and I'm finally rid of this god-awful world. Do it. KILL ME!"

Steven brought out a shield, aimed for Zack's face. He didn't think about the consequences and slammed it down, right before Pearl shot it out of his hand. Zack grinned. Steven hated that. The demigem breathed hard, turning his head to glare at Pearl. The leader just resumed trying to help Howlite. The Knight looked at Steven, whispering, "Don't do it."

Steven let out a hefty breath, as Zack cackled. The demigem thought in retrospect what he was about to do. In his anger, he tried to kill this guy. He tried to take life away from him, ending the greatest gift in the Universe. His mother told him that he was the best of both worlds, the one to connect it. Where was that part of him now? Was the best of both worlds a killer at heart? He sure felt disgusted about it.

He couldn't believe he even considered going that far. An eleven year-old making decisions to kill a person. That was _insane_.

He was so ashamed of himself.

Steven slipped a hand over his face, noticing his bloodied knuckles. He should've convinced them not to take Zack's plan. If only he said it better, influenced them right with his charmspeak, this could've never happened. He could've prevented this. Now the whole world thinks they're the bad guys, controlling an innocent little boy.

Zack chuckled, "Oh, you're _precious_. You've decided not to kill me. I'll remember to keep coming to you, Steven. This... This'll be a nightmare of joy. A nightmare for you... Joy for me..."

The demigem got off of Zack and turned to Pearl. Their gazes met, both of them feeling different about the other. Steven ran off and jumped through window, shattering the glass.

Pearl looked at Zack, who groggily got back up and sneered. "Yeah, yeah... I'll cuff myself so you don't have to do it." he said, as if this was still continuing of their plan.

* * *

A/N: OKAY, WOAH. WHO DID THIS? Everyone turned sad—what's going on— _Candy-Vegetto_ updated earlier this time?! WHAT? IMPOSSIBLE.

...

Horrible joking aside, that was the latest chapter. How do you like it? Had fun? Thanks, tell me your thoughts down below...

On another note... We got over 75,000 hits on this story! Woooo! Only 25,000 more clicks till we get to 100,000! By my calculations, we'd have it by Chapter 56! ((And of course, I have to say, my calculations suck.))

Well then, I'll see you next time... if you're still following this dark tale. And remember to review.

* * *

Breaking News: _The Pink Monarch_ refers to Steven. He's going to become what he's destined for. He's seen too much. He wants the world to be a better place.

Next Chapter's Title: "The Accords"


	45. Chapter 43: The Accords

Chapter 43: The Accords

* * *

November; a week later...

"Oh god, _Connie_..." Priyanka's voice was low and quiet as she left her sick daughter's door. She had just talked her daughter into sleeping and already made a list of potential illnesses Connie was harbouring. Talking to the girl was even harder with how reclusive she's become, and new experiences of night terrors that woke everyone in the house up. Her daughter's voice was also different to the Connie she raised. It was so _frail_ , like glass.

Lapis was standing next to her dreadfully, looking miserable and dejected. This was all her fault. She brought Steven in, taken care of him for ten years, which led to him meeting Connie, and then they became like family, when the dangers came along, and... It was all her fault for making that stupid decision to bring her in. If it weren't for her, a young girl wouldn't have her life ruined by the "heroes". Yeah, as if a crime lord could be one. When she started that, she didn't account for Connie, and now she got caught in it.

Stupid magician.

"I'm sorry," Lapis muttered, staring intently at the ground. "It's my fault. All of this, is my fault. She's like that because of me. I should've never... come into contact with your lives. Never should've interrupted the happiness of others..."

"It's alri..." Priyanka stopped herself there, her eyes scrutinizing at her hands. She ran one against her head. This world was full of problems. "...what am I talking about? She's not alright. She's been away from school for so long I don't think they'll accept her anymore. And what would happen to her future?" She continued, but her mouth was running faster than her mind, "And then... And then I'm worried about her mental health because I keep thinking doing this for you guys is what she wants, and now I'm thinking it's not _working_... Back then she looked _so_ happy, I couldn't keep myself from—" she sobbed, "—stopping her. And now, she's like _this_... God, I'm such a terrible mother, full of "hope" and "dreams"..." Priyanka shook her head, rubbing her eyes with a hand. "...why did I even _let_ her..."

"It's me," Lapis interrupted, holding Priyanka's hand. "I did this to you. I'm the main reason this is happening..." The Gem broke contact with her and ran her only hand through her navy hair. "...I... I've been thinking of... I think it's best that... Steven and I leave you guys out of our lives." She noticed it sounded like she was ditching them. Her eyes widened frantically. "Not—Not like we're running away from this... We'll help where we can. I'll do everything in my power to help. But after that, we'll..."

"No," Priyanka said. Lapis was surprised at her response. "Connie wouldn't like that. She'd be alone again. You two are like family to her now. I wouldn't want to cut her away from it. Besides, with what you've taught her... I don't think it's possible that... she'd ever leave you. She'd just leave Doug and I. Even in her state right now, sooner or later, she'd just follow you."

"Connie isn't that selfish," Lapis remarked. She wished she was right and that everything would go smoothly. But she didn't know anymore. This was just proof that all she knew could be thrown out the window without a second thought, all the things she noted... _useless_. She didn't know what to say anymore. She only had reassurances and empty promises.

She hated seeing Connie like that, being so helpless. It reminded her of herself back then. She thought it would be over after the coma, but the universe liked to laugh and spit in her face, then throw another bad thing for Connie to carry. And to add to injury, she was starting to get worried about Steven too. He's _changing_. She didn't like it. He was becoming distant after _that_ bombing incident, and then coming back home to see _this_? Talk about a bad day. Whenever he's around, he tries his best to lighten the mood like he always does, but every half-glance Lapis gets, he would look depressed.

He helped around the Maheswaran house, even looked after Connie and helped her on her feet a couple times. But the more he stayed, the more Lapis noticed him becoming a little more broken inside. More voice cracking, more fidgeting, less smiles... It was like he was sharing her pain. Literally.

"What's with your hand?" Priyanka asked out of the blue, noticing how Lapis kept rubbing her right arm, or turning it away, moving her right side out of view from everyone, like she was hiding it.

Lapis' eyes widened. She sighed as she lifted her jacket sleeve, to reveal a nub for a right hand. Priyanka blinked at that. She'd seen amputees before, so she was familiar with the concept. But with someone close to her? This was new.

"Your daughter, uh..." Lapis shrugged nonchalantly, trying to act like she wasn't sensitive about it. "She uh... cut it. While being..."

"Yeah... Wow... Connie..." Priyanka imagined Connie cutting off a hand. That struck her as unnerving, like all normal humans. "I don't know how you Gems work. And you seem pretty calm with it. So, is it _temporary_?" Priyanka raised a brow.

"Maybe. Probably. I dunno. I haven't tried regenerating..." Lapis replied. She raised the nub and formed a water hand over it, before turning it into steam. "I don't really think now's the time for me to retreat into my Gem... with all the things happening."

Priyanka stared. "I don't understand..."

"Oh, you know, the bombing and my hunt for Aqua—"

"No. I mean. Regenerating and retreating into your Gem."

"I'll explain it... maybe later." Lapis said. "I kinda want to check on Steven..."

"Yeah," Priyanka shuffled on her feet. "I can't blame the kid, with all the news about _it_ everywhere. I can't imagine how a kid could take so much." The woman looked into Lapis' cold eyes. "I worry about him too. I'll watch over Connie now. You can go. It's alright. You've been cooped up in this house for three nights straight."

It didn't really matter to Lapis if she had to stay a year confined. She wanted others to be safe. That was her first priority now. If it made her feel like being trapped in that mirror all over again, then so be it. She deserved it anyway, for causing this mess.

"Thank you," came from Lapis' lips.

"Oh, and Lapis?"

"Hmm?"

Priyanka scratched her head, trying to think of something to say. "Stay safe."

* * *

Steven was sitting alone in his room, contemplating at the stuff he brought out of Lion's mane dimension. He called it the _Di-mane-sion_ , which he thought was pending till a better name came up. He sighed, remembering what happened with Connie.

After Connie healed from a bottle of his healing spit, all that was left was to take care of her fragile mind. She had been trying to prove that she was okay from day one, but it didn't stop her from forgetting how to breathe, or breaking down in the middle of their conversations. And as always, he was there, trying to help her out as best he can. And everytime, he took all her negative emotions and struggled against them himself, letting Connie sleep peacefully.

It wasn't a healthy thing for Steven to do: manipulating people's emotions and his own. Then comes Connie struggling in her sleep, having nightmares of whatever Aquamarine did to her. Steven couldn't help but do it. He had felt her pain through that, sometimes feeling as if he were to throw up from all the emotions he was feeling. But he thought it was worth it if it meant she would sleep peacefully. The pit in his stomach kept deepening, that small part of distress in him, _growing_.

Sometimes, he strummed his ukulele and sang songs for her. Then, she would ask him to play a set of chords, and mumble something under her breath.

Steven remembered hearing them as he played the notes she asked him.

 _"We... are the Crystal Gems._

 _"We'll always save the day._

 _"And if you think we can't,_

 _"We'll always find a way._

 _"That's why the people of this world,_

 _"Believe in,_

 _"Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl,_

 _"And Steven!"_

Steven didn't know who _Garnet_ was. Even if he knew her, or _him_ , back then, he couldn't remember. But the idea of Steven being in the Crystal Gems had crossed his mind before. So, maybe Connie was hallucinating about the future? But, Pearl already left the team. So, it couldn't be that, which meant Connie was just hallucinating a lot. He didn't understand why this song seemed so important to Connie that she had it written in her dream journals, it was interpretatively wrong, but... it felt familiar to him.

He didn't know why. It's like déjà vu.

Steven caressed his fingers over a VHS tape, which was property of his mother, Rose Quartz. He retrieved it from Lion's Dimanesion. Taped on the side wrote, _For Steven_. He didn't want to see it yet. He didn't feel worthy of watching whatever Rose stored in it for him. After all that's happened, he felt ashamed that the strong leader of a space rebellion gave her life away just to put it in him. And he was just a young boy still having no idea what to do.

He couldn't think straight anymore. What was happening out there? He didn't know. When will Peridot come back? Maybe in a few months. Could Connie come back to her normal state? Everything's _changed_ , he didn't think that would even be possible. He just wanted to be normal. The one time he helped Pearl, it ended with everyone hating the Gems. There were just so many factors around him, he just... couldn't keep up.

How could _he_ be the link between Gemkind and humanity if he was like this?

* * *

Pyrite hadn't seen her best friend since the bombing incident. She knew in her heart it wasn't the silver Gem's fault and that she was probably framed. But after talking a bit with Pearl, she revealed that they made that decision. Pyrite didn't understand it and kept denying Howlite's position around the bombing, but she knew Howlite couldn't deal with this grief herself.

The golden Gem fiddled with her aviator jacket as she knocked on Howlite's door.

She waited a few moments. No response.

Pyrite yelled, "Open sesame!"

There was some shuffling noises in the room. But that was it. The door was still locked.

"Howlite," the golden Gem started, taking another approach to her tone. "Could you be a dear and please open this door?"

Pyrite pursed her lips, faintly hearing a few incoherent mumbles and something falling onto the ground. There was a knock on the door from the inside, before there was an unlocking sound and a small open gap. Pyrite peeked in, finding Howlite with messier spiked hair than usual and the armor she wore was replaced with a thin shirt, which was hugging her torso, and a pair of boxers, revealing her curves to Pyrite. The golden Gem just shrugged it off.

"So, I see you've acquainted yourself with human clothing," Pyrite smirked, closing the door behind her.

Howlite rubbed her forehead, locks of her gray hair dangling over her eyes. "They're breathable." she stated solemnly.

Pyrite took a seat on the silver Gem's bed, inviting her to sit with her. Howlite hesitated, but she took the offer to sit on her own bed and stare at the ground. Pyrite sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, talk to me," Pyrite urged impatiently.

Howlite sighed, trying to think of the words. She was surprised that Pyrite wasn't that mad at her about what she promoted, or maybe she didn't know what happened. But she wasn't betting on it because Pyrite always knew.

"I've lived my entire life, watching these things happen." Howlite stated, referring to her past life and the terrorist attacks. "I don't know why... I just broke down like that. I just... maybe I hit a breaking point."

"I heard you were crying. Did you cry?" Pyrite asked incessantly.

"I did _not_ ," Howlite whimpered, voice cracking.

"Relax. It's just me. Pyrite, your bestest friend. You can tell me these things." the golden Gem stated. "I won't tell anyone. I swear."

Howlite's eyes gazed over at Pyrite, staring into her rich glowing eyes. Pyrite waited for Howlite to say something, but the Gem was scanning her, looking for any deceit. Before she knew it, Howlite slowly leaned over and wrapped her arms around her. Pyrite blinked at the action, before her eyes started to water with joy.

"Awww, _Howlite_ , physical contact!" Pyrite wanted to return the action, by hugging back, but Howlite shrugged her advances away. The golden Gem then sat there, since Howlite didn't want her to return the favor. " _Okay_. I guess we aren't friends enough for a two-way cuddle."

"Steven told me that hugs are a sign of _love_ ; deep affection and trust. You can't go back on it." Howlite said, squeezing her eyes shut as she hugged Pyrite tighter, causing her to exhale suddenly. Pyrite felt the wind get knocked out of her from that squeeze. "Pyrite, can you... never leave me?"

"Like a soulmate? Always at your side? Yeah, man, I could do that." Pyrite responded so nonchalantly, it was almost unreal. She was going to spend the rest of her life by Howlite's side without even hesitating. "I _promise_ I'll never leave you." she said, raising her hand. She went that extra unneeded mile, going for promises.

Howlite released her iron grip, wiping her wet cheeks. "Thank you. I needed that."

" _Yeah_ ," Pyrite squeaked, trying to catch her breath. It was funny. Before they fused, they didn't really have this many mushy moments. But after that unification, they went to each other instinctively, as if they only had each other. "No problem."

* * *

The Crystal Gems; Ruby, Amethyst, Sapphire and Kyanite, walked into the halls of the Revolution facility. They were asked to be met by Pearl about a certain topic she would like to show them. A man with neatly trimmed hair led the way, someone that the three Crystal Gems remembered as the one who also brought them here a year ago when Amber attacked. The man was called Mikey, short for Michael, and also short for loyal squad leader.

"I can't believe I'm younger than you, Kyanite," Amethyst grunted, a bit of sarcastic anger in her tone.

" _Well_..." Kyanite shrugged and smirked at the easy-going leader. To be honest, she felt more open and relaxed nowadays to her. Amethyst seemed like a fun person to talk to, and only really focused on the friend stuff.

"So, how has life been, Mikey?" Sapphire asked the Revolution soldier.

"Holy shit, you're Mikey?" Ruby reacted almost immediately. "It's been a year since we last saw you. How's it going?"

"I didn't expect the recognition, but I'd have to say life has been pretty stressful nowadays." Mikey explained, turning a corner. "I'm a squad leader so I have to fill in a lot of paperwork after missions. The moment I finally get to sit on my bed, my alarm goes off and I need to get called in for another mission."

"Sounds pretty tough," Ruby remarked, staring at a pair of Gems playing cards as they walked by. "How do you even live with it?"

Mikey shrugged. "I dunno. Lately, since we haven't gotten a real commander, higher ranking suits have to file in. And that means me. And that means until Pearl takes the job, or some lunatic takes it—or perhaps another Gem is preferred... I have to do some more work with other people to figure out everyone's schedules."

Ruby crossed her arms. "So, you're telling us to..."

"Tell Pearl to take the job. Got it." Sapphire finished for her.

"I mean, I wouldn't wanna _force_ her or anything. Just, you know, I kinda want to have my daily eight hours of sleep back." Mikey said. They nodded in understanding.

The Crystal Gems finally got to the meeting boardroom and marvelled at the space they have. But the spell melted off as they got to business. Pearl was conversing with Moonstone when she heard the door open. The white Gem and the teacher turned and put their focus on the Crystal Gems. Amethyst exclaimed a greeting, as the others waved. Moonstone just nodded back.

"So, that's it? That's all of you?" Moonstone questioned disappointedly. The Crystal Gems went to sit around the meeting table.

Amethyst shrugged, blowing her disheveled hair out of her eyes. "If you can, you could spread the word out, tell people that the Crystal Gems are open for workers. But then, I don't think anyone wants to volunteer spying on other Gems."

"So, you're just the ones who've managed to survive corruption in the last thousands of years. Amber really did dwindle a whole army into a team." Moonstone noted, scratching his beard.

"I, uh, was part of the corrupted, sir," Kyanite informed quietly.

"Then..." He furrowed his brows in confusion. "...why aren't there more Crystal Gems?"

Pearl changed the topic. "You have a giant ship parked in our airspace," she said.

"Don't like it? Too bad!" Ruby barked aggressively, pumping her chest out. "I did it on purpose!"

"No, she didn't," Amethyst rolled her eyes. "I did."

"This is a foundation for saving the world. You doing that only impedes our efficiency." Pearl replied in a dignified manner.

"I can't believe you're talking to us about saving the world when you're blowing up buildings." Ruby muttered. Pearl visibly frowned at her. The red Gem waved a hand out. "I was just kidding! It was a prank. A social experiment. Whatever."

"Fifty-two dead from that," Moonstone lamented.

Pearl and Ruby felt a twinge of guilt rise in their chests.

Pearl continued, "The world council doesn't like it. Some countries don't trust me. Most countries know that we Gems are still essential to reconstructing destroyed cities and advancing sciences, so they know they have to trust us for the greater good. If they don't and go against us, they would be losing potential advancements to their civilization. So, they tolerate us, and even more so with a peace treaty that's been signed by a ninety-eight countries. But our peace treaty has to have indications of our legitimacy. So, in months of planning this out, I've finally reached a conclusion."

"I don't follow," Ruby said bluntly.

"She says that the world has agreed on helping us live here if we give something back." Amethyst stated, arms crossed. She turned to Pearl. "And I'm guessing this is what you're trying to tell us?"

"Yes. The world and I have made an accord. To let Gems be treated like people, to have their own rights, and to have mankind move forward, we've made an agreement to create a registration act for Gems so that we have everything in single file and a foundation of trust between us and them." Pearl informed, tapping the table to turn on the holograms. The lights slid over to the four Crystal Gems, letting them see the legislative papers.

"Don't we already have rights for fighting for this planet?" Amethyst asked quizzically, playing around with the hologram. "I mean, if Rose Quartz were still alive right now... Doesn't she have the right and power to stay here because she's the one who's lived here before humanity can _write_?"

"Well... it's complicated. But the human population is far larger than ours on Earth, so by comparison on a spiritual scale, we have to accommodate to the needs of the many; their rules." Pearl replied wisely. Moonstone nodded to that. "We're Gems. We can endure this."

"What are we going to do..." Amethyst trailed away as she skimmed a few pages. "...Oh."

Pearl looked at the other Crystal Gems' expressions for their response. Sapphire seemed content with it. Kyanite didn't even touch the hologram, seeming unfamiliar with the language. In layman's terms, she couldn't read. Ruby raised a brow at some instances of the book.

"In other news, I think we could provide amnesty to Kyanite," Pearl stated with crossed arms. "Her charges for murder could be... _erased_."

The four Crystal Gems looked at one another, almost forgetting that Kyanite had killed a few humans before. The cyan Gem hid her eyes from the others, not wanting to see the looks of disappointment in their faces.

Pearl continued, "It would seem unfair, but..."

"No, you actually can't drop the murder charges, actually. It's... well, I've seen humans get touchy with the subject. Can't hope for the better right now." Moonstone pointed out. She almost forgot he was there from how silent he had been.

The white Gem frowned. "Well, uh... you'd have to do more work then." Kyanite seemed puzzled by that statement. "Oh, right, you can't read..."

Sapphire reached over to Kyanite, lifted the front trail of the star cape she had, revealing her Gem. The cold prophet tapped her gemstone, causing Kyanite feel uncomfortable from how close that was. But, that all went away as Kyanite processed the alphabet, word formation and sentence construction.

"There," Sapphire stated. "That should enable you to understand the writing."

Kyanite looked down at the hologram, eyes widening that she could read it. She flipped through the pages of the treaty, finally understanding _words_. Her eyes narrowed skeptically. She didn't want to push her luck with Pearl, but she wanted to ask.

"Uh, what happens if I don't abide the rules?" the teleporting Gem asked, trying to make it seem as nonchalant as possible.

"Well, you'd uh..." Pearl trailed away. Her stare hardened as she asked, "Why would you _not_ abide the rules?"

"I dunno. Maybe I've got something else to do." Kyanite replied meekly. Pearl never really liked Kyanite. She was always excusing herself, because her caretakers were Onyx and Obsidian. And now the Crystal Gems have to take over and substitute.

"Like what?" she demanded with a sharp tongue.

"Pearl, give her a break," Ruby said, taking a seat next to Kyanite. The cyan Gem relaxed as the red one was protecting her. Pearl thought that it only proved her point further. "She just wants to find Onyx."

"We'll look for her..." Pearl reassured. She thought of something before turning to Amethyst. "Why haven't you used the supercomputer?"

"Well, back then we could..." Amethyst informed, leaning back in her seat. "...But now, either Onyx's energy has risen off the charts that even the computer can't detect her, _or_ , Onyx went somewhere the computer can't find."

"Hmm..." Pearl thought. "Maybe she's gone off planet?"

"No," Sapphire and Kyanite said at the same time. The former knowing the future while the latter sounding desperate.

Pearl looked at Sapphire inquisitively. "Can't you find her?"

"I only have... a portion of it." Sapphire glanced at Ruby when she said that. "I don't have the whole thing to determine where she is. It's practically static on my side."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Ruby demanded suddenly, before waving it off. "Never mind, don't answer. Do any of you guys think this is a little bit... restricting? This is practically like putting us on a leash, or turning us into slaves once more." She said, trying to avoid the triggering word. She turned to Pearl. "Can you tweak this?"

"We're about four hours until we officially publicize it." Pearl shook her head. "There's no time. _Plus_ , we needed to at least put down some ground rules and justify ourselves. A contract of work for the Revolution isn't going to be hard. We still have free will and newly gained Gem rights. Unless, four hours of daily free time isn't okay for you."

"Alright, Pearl, we get that you work 24/7, but that doesn't mean other Gems would want to do that." Ruby stated.

"You mean, _you_ don't want to do that." Pearl retorted, crossing her arms.

"I'm being serious here!" Ruby exclaimed. "If even _I_ don't want to do it, then what makes you think a majority of Gems would do it?"

Pearl furrowed her brows, connecting the dots. "You're not going to register?"

"Well..." Ruby trailed away. "...I need time. Time to think about this."

"You've got four hours. If you don't, we're liable to hunt you down and lock you up." Moonstone stated. Ruby's mouth hung open.

" _What_? You're going to punish Gems for doing nothing? Just because they didn't follow your orders?" Ruby questioned incredulously.

"They have the option to join us. If they openly choose to resist, then by the world council's orders, we'll have to list them as a potential threat." Moonstone said, "It's a pain, we know. But it'll be for the greater good."

Sapphire nonchalantly shrugged. "I'm in on this." Ruby made a gawking face at her. "All you have to do is say yes. Don't make this too complicated."

"Are you guys just... going to _admit_ to Homeworld's society?" the red Gem demanded. Sapphire sighed in response. Pearl's fingers twitched at the mention of the place.

"Sometimes, to make things better—to _create_ a better world," Pearl sighed, "you have to let go of the past. Don't be so stubborn. We're just implementing some things, is all."

"But... isn't this taking it too far?" Kyanite asked, looking up at Pearl. "Treating Gems like animals? I have to say with Ruby, you're just going to arrest innocents that don't want any part in this world?"

Amethyst seemed conflicted at the idea. However, she felt fighting against the government would be too immoral.

"Depends on your view of things. They've all done something. Being corrupted, being under the influence of both Rose or the Diamonds... We've all done something wrong. I can't say we're all innocent." Amethyst replied, interlocking her fingers under her chin. "Look, we can argue and discuss this for the rest of the four hours we have, but even if I did have the power to resist against the government, I don't think anyone would be happy with that. Let's just give mankind what they want and hope they don't complain."

"They _always_ complain," Ruby grumbled. "Even then, how are you going to convince the whole world that you can make things better with this? Our history isn't exactly _compelling_. Sure, we saved the world a bunch of times, nobody appreciates it. We make mistakes, the whole world talks about it and disregards the fact that they'd all be dead if it weren't for us."

"We've... reconstructed Kronos Quad," Pearl replied. "But better, of course."

"The whole city?" Amethyst asked in surprise. "Reconstructed it in a _year_?"

"It took three months really." Pearl said. "That's what grief-stricken Gems could accomplish, working how the Accords work. They're now treated like one of us. The accords is _working_ before it even started." Pearl brought up another hologram about the schedule on public disclosure. "We're going to make a grand opening in four hours with the release of the accords."

Ruby put her hands behind her head. "So, Gems _are_ willing to sacrifice themselves into this. You've figured this out neatly."

Amethyst crossed her arms, leaning back on the seat. She contemplated at the hologram, trying to think. She'd been supporting Pearl's side, but she wanted to think of Ruby's side of things.

Ruby stood up. "I need to... think about this."

"Yeah, me too," Amethyst added. They both excused themselves and headed for the exit. Ruby stopped a few feet from it, turning to the meeting board.

"Kyanite, come on, I need to punch something." Ruby said, knowing she couldn't leave the poor kid with the people that were supporting the idea of locking people like her up.

Kyanite's eyes widened, looking around at everyone. She hesitantly followed the red Gem, leaving the compound with the two Crystal Gems. Looking back, she could see Pearl and Moonstone reverting to a conversation, while Sapphire followed their every move, before resting her head on the table. Kyanite felt like she disappointed her for some reason. That didn't feel good.

* * *

The Amedot ship floated over Beach City's oceans again, getting most tourists' attention. There were flashes of photography everywhere the humans can legally be. Of course, they couldn't be too close to the Gems. Barricades were set up to prevent them from connecting with the aliens.

Ruby leaped down the Amedot, marching towards the cave. The two followed her to the supercomputer, which Ruby took a particular interest in.

"Please don't hit that," Amethyst pleaded.

"What? No. I only said that to make Kyanite coming with us more... _organic_." Ruby answered, glancing at the young leader. "I couldn't leave her there with... _them_."

"Why do you need to make it seem organic?" Amethyst asked in suspicion, crossing her arms.

"Because they're wary of us, Amethyst." Ruby exclaimed, sweat dripping down her forehead. "My active accusations would've gotten me into one of those prison facilities underground or on the moon. It's my luck that they didn't even try to apprehend me right then and there. Or, maybe because the document hasn't been legalized yet, but thank the _stars_ I got out of there with you guys."

Amethyst stared at Ruby for a while, before narrowing her eyes perplexedly. "On the _moon_?"

"Did you even _read_ the thing?" Ruby asked, placing a hand on the delicate supercomputer. Amethyst kept her eye on that hand, hoping she didn't damage it with that one tap.

"Well..." Amethyst glanced at Kyanite, who hadn't spoken a thing. "...I just knew the basics."

"Pearl went too far on this," Ruby summarized.

Amethyst's eyes widened, realizing _it_. This, what was happening right now. Ruby picked Kyanite out of the facility while she was targetted. Ruby had spoken against the accords. Ruby focused on the prison facilities. She was getting her allies, planning ahead, and preparing for the worst.

"You're not going to join them. You never were." Amethyst realized, "Not once has it passed your mind that it was a good idea. From the start, you... you didn't even believe in it one bit."

"Is it a surprise that I'm always right?" she replied. "It's like Homeworld and Rose Quartz again. And I'm on the minority side again, starting out with just my only friends."

"What makes you think..." Amethyst started, before pausing to figure out her own words. Ruby's decision was going to become a disaster. "...that I'd... go against Pearl or the government?"

"Are you saying you'd rather go with Homeworld than with Rose Quartz?" Ruby asked rhetorically. "Amethyst, I've experienced this whole thing happen once. I'm not going to let it happen again and let the wrong decision win."

"Pearl isn't in the wrong! This isn't Homeworld and Earth, this is about getting humans to trust us again! Ruby, you do this, you're going against the world!" Amethyst warned. Kyanite stepped back from the ferocity in her words. The discussion back in the Revolution base was as formal and dignified Amethyst could get. Now, it was just her and Ruby.

Ruby's eyes shone with sadness and a hint of betrayal. "It's always been like that."

Amethyst glanced at Ruby, her red hands on the mainframe, and the supercomputer that can track any Gem on the planet. The purple Quartz's eyes widened frantically in realization.

"No," Amethyst pleaded. "No, you wouldn't."

"I'm sorry, Amethyst. I can't let you turn this into Homeworld." Ruby was immediately hoisted up by Amethyst. The red Gem grunted and turned to Kyanite. "The tracker's too powerful, Kyanite! Destroy it!"

"Don't do as she says!" Amethyst snapped at Kyanite. The teleporting Gem took a step back in fear, glancing at the computer and looking surprised. Amethyst looked and the computer was emitting little sparks out of its system. The monitor turned blue. Peridot's gift... melted internally. Amethyst rushed towards the mainframe, feeling the scorching heat emanating from it. Ruby already fried the insides while they were talking, she was stalling _time_. "NO! No no no! _No_!"

Ruby was forgotten by Amethyst and she pulled Kyanite to the war pad. Kyanite didn't seem to process what was happening. Ruby was trying to save her, but in turn this would go against Amethyst and Sapphire. Were they betraying them? That was too much, that she just watched and felt regret she didn't do anything. And where were they going, now that they have to hide?

The warp pad was activated and the future fugitives were officially on the run.

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh, you know what's the best idea to title the Yellow Diamond arc? _Homecoming_.

Hahaha. Yeah. If we ever get there, that's what I'm calling it.

On another note, it's been eight months since I've wanted to do this. I've waited so long, and I'm finally doing a Civil War arc. I've done so many revamps of the thing, I can't recognize it from the original. But the changes, it's all for the best, I guess.

And unfortunately, I've calculated that it would take five months to finish this... But I have the summer holiday and school is practically useless lately due to exams being done, so I guess I'll have to wait and see!

((Looking back at Chapter 25, I guess nobody saw the Adventure Time reference. Or maybe you did, but you didn't say it. Well, I've forgotten about it for over a few months so it doesn't matter now.))

* * *

Breaking News: Pretty self-explanatory.

Next Chapter's Title: "Line in The Sand"


	46. Chapter 44: Line in The Sand

Chapter 44: Line in The Sand

* * *

Four hours later...

Amethyst moped around the Revolution facility, sitting dejectedly next to Sapphire. The icy Gem already noticed her a few minutes ago through future vision. Amethyst's head was hung low and her hair covered the front of her face. Sapphire placed a hand on her shoulder, before returning it to herself, thinking it would be too awkward.

"Did you know?" the violet quartz asked, glaring at the prophet under her white bangs.

"I saw the possibility. Ruby was unpredictable. If I were there, she would've had more of a—"

" _Don't_ dance around the _question_." Amethyst was infuriated. Sapphire felt that it was remarkable she could pull off such a hostile attitude. She felt her glare under her hair piercing into Sapphire's own soul. "I asked you: did you _know_?"

Sapphire wasn't certain what Amethyst would do next. So, she answered, " _Yes_."

Amethyst was about to stand up and leave, when Pearl found them and walked towards their spot.

"Are you acquainted with the place?" Pearl asked worriedly, hoping the place was guest-friendly. The facility was open, had a lot of floors, glass walls, places to sit around, wide hallways to not awkwardly bump into someone, and architecturally designed to be convenient. Going back to reality, Pearl noticed something off. "Where's Ruby and Kyanite? Registration is going to open in a few minutes."

"They ran away," Amethyst grumbled. Pearl observed her sour mood, hoping their pain could connect each other. Amethyst sniffed at her own pity and changed the topic. "Aren't you supposed to be out there, presenting the accords?"

"Can't. Public hates me." she answered bluntly. "If I go out there, it would be mass panic and chaos."

"Was the response positive?" Amethyst asked again.

"Not at first, but after we told them that we had reconstructed the city by following through the plan, it was considerably better." Pearl then sighed, "However, someone still made it seem negative by pointing out that we were tampering with the land of the dead and we were disrespecting it. The people were like sheep, following a blind leader. I mean, do they even remember that some cities were built on graves, or do they just continuously antagonize us because that's the trend nowadays?"

Sapphire crossed her legs. "But some people didn't follow them. They had their own thoughts. Most supported your document. Hell, _ninety-eight_ _countries_ support it." she remarked. "We have to have faith in these people. I can tell you're losing that."

"I miss the days when we were out saving and fighting pirates." Amethyst added sadly. "Back then it wasn't so complicated. There was just evil, and we're the good guys, and we fight them, and that's it. _Now_? There's just a fat load of things going on."

"Oh, things were easier then..." Pearl said.

"Why did Ruby not just accept?" Amethyst groaned. "It would've been easier with all of us again..." Pearl was also disappointed that Ruby didn't want to comply with their terms. Now she and Kyanite were enemies in the government's eyes. She had suspected her from the start, she just didn't want to push it.

"She fears this will turn Earth into Homeworld for the Gems." Sapphire answered. "She doesn't like that. So she does what she does best... she rebels. Just like Rose Quartz..."

"She's following in Rose's footsteps..." Amethyst contemplated at her words. She furrowed her brows. "...Does that make _us_ the bad guys? For opposing Ruby? For opposing Rose?"

"Things are different now," Pearl assured. "We're not going to _kill_ planets. We're just... trying to make the world a better place."

"With the three of us," Amethyst said, glancing at the two. It was the first time in that conversation that she openly acknowledged them instead of looking at their feet or glaring. "Three Crystal Gems."

Pearl's eyes dilated at the mention of her being a Crystal Gem. She hadn't been one in over a year, but she didn't feel any different. She thought that decision would change her, but she was still her, except... _free_.

"Come on, P." Amethyst smiled warmly. Sapphire couldn't help but do the same. "Don't look so surprised. By definition, a Crystal Gem works to protect this planet. You're just one of us, but working differently and far away. We're still Crystal Gems."

Pearl felt her lips blossoming into a light smile. She hadn't done a lot of those lately.

Pearl's gauntlet lit up, alerting her of a call. She tapped her new transmitter, since Howlite destroyed the other one, and the display brought up a few functions. Pearl pressed whatever the alarm for her was.

"There's a few Gems up for registration..." she informed, eyes widening in mild shock.

Amethyst perked up, surprised. " _Already_?"

"I didn't want you to get spoiled," Sapphire calmly added. The two Gems just stared at her attempt at dry humor. "I already knew you two were going to look at me like that."

The three Gems jogged towards the open field of the Revolution base, finding Moonstone, Jade and Hematite already at the front gate with some unfamiliar Gems. Pearl was happy that her plan already gained the attention of at least a few Gems.

Amethyst and Sapphire noticed the red Gem dressed in a greenish black. It wasn't a Ruby, but she seemed so recognizable to the two. They couldn't put their mind on it, and Sapphire couldn't read her, which made the icy Gem suspicious of this character. Her single eye were narrowed down at the Gem, who had her gemstone on her chest, which seemed to have a... _scar_ on it.

"Do Gems get scars on their gemstones?" Amethyst whispered to Sapphire, knowing she was the only one that noticed the same thing as her.

"I do not recall," Sapphire replied, just as softly. "But I don't see a future with her for some reason. So be careful."

As Pearl went over to greet the new Gems, Moonstone stepped in front of the two Crystal warriors. "You feel that too?" he asked, noticing their focus was on a particular Gem, even though they observed all of them equally.

"The red Gem?" Amethyst asked, "Yeah."

Moonstone nodded his head, contemplating at the ground. He seemed to be intently focused on something. Sapphire and Amethyst glanced at the red Gem, who started introducing herself to Jade, Hematite and Pearl.

"I don't remember who I am... it's like... a jasper or... a _chalcedony_?" the red woman told them. Hematite nodded, trying to come up with a temporary name to call her.

Moonstone frowned, his back was turned to the red Gem so she wouldn't see it. "I can feel something ancient in her..."

Amethyst crossed her arms. Sapphire snorted that she still couldn't even see a simple event of the future with her. Moonstone was about to speak up when Amethyst cut him off.

"Keep an eye on her," Amethyst said, surprising Moonstone. "Yep, I already know. I'm a leader myself."

"But you've never used that order," Sapphire added.

"Eye on the prize, Sapphire," Amethyst instructed. "I have a feeling she's not as innocent as she looks." She shook her head. "Damn, I just sounded stupid! I should've delivered that line minutes ago!"

They turned their focus on the red Gem, who was staring at them with a certain dangerous glint in her eyes. The three nodded at her casually, trying to diminish her suspicions. The chalcedony turned her head to the other three.

"I miss Ruby," Amethyst remarked. " _Already_."

Meanwhile, Hematite proclaimed her new name, "I got it. _Helios_! Like the greek sun god."

"Hematite, those gods you're talking about don't exist," the little in comparison, green Gem beside him, _Jade_ , remarked.

"I-I like it," the red Gem stuttered at first, before gaining confidence. "It sounds like a magic spell. _Helios_!"

Hematite chuckled. Jade clapped, "At least it's not a Gem like everyone else."

"Until we figure your Gem type out, that'll be your name." Pearl said. "If your Gem isn't unique in the Revolution, then we'll stick with it. Now, go line up with your peers. Your group is new, so together it would be efficient if we would lecture you about the facility."

Helios nodded and followed her group.

Amethyst snorted. "That doesn't bring my hopes up."

"Do we keep this to ourselves or let the rest know?" Moonstone asked, loyal to their suspiciousness of that particular moment.

"I think we'll be enough," Amethyst smirked confidently, unfolding her arms and putting a hand on her hip.

"That's not a good idea." Sapphire advised her.

"It's not. But she's not going to do anything bad for a while if she's going to gain their, or _our,_ trust." Amethyst replied, "Plus, with the registration... _Helios_ is going to be too busy to do whatever she's planning. We're gonna keep our eye on her, and if anything looks out of the ordinary, alert the others immediately. We don't want to alert others if _Helios_ is actually innocent."

Sapphire sighed, "You put a lot of thought into this. I guess you don't want to belittle others with our predicament."

"I'm confident we'll be able to take her out if she does turn back on us." Moonstone stated, "Her energy is actually rather low. It's based on strength and speed than any other attributes, so we could do fine against her."

"Hmm." Sapphire didn't seem convinced.

"Well then, stop looking suspicious and roll out!" Amethyst ordered and they went their separate ways.

* * *

A week later...

Steven was strumming his ukulele, tapping his fingers on the base to a beat. He kept that tune to memory and played it again, hoping it would sound good. His fingers blanked out halfway, randomly pressing chords on a whim of frustration. He sighed and closed his eyes. It had been the fourth time in a row that it happened. He didn't know what's going on with him, but he knew his flow was just being disrupted.

He sighed as he flopped on his bed. Today was just not his music day.

Lapis chuckled as she leaned against his doorframe. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her nub of a hand covered from his view. Of course, Steven already knew about that injury, but she was sensitive about it and didn't want other people to know. Expecially not Ruby. Oh, the amount of probably inappropriate one-handed jokes she would give.

The ocean Gem walked over to his bed and sat beside him. "Having a _bad time_?"

"That reference. Connie would appreciate it." Steven remarked. "And no—I'm having a _swell_ day."

"Is that sarcasm, I hear?" Lapis asked as she pulled her leg up on the bed, grasping it close to her torso. "Hey, wanna see something cool?" she asked, smirking along. She reached into her hair with her left hand and started dragging it upwards, leaving strands of her hair standing up. It didn't go down. She then changed it so all her hair was pointing to the side. "My hair is _amazing_."

"Let me try," Steven chuckled, reaching over to spike up her hair. He made one blue spike going to one side and another going the opposite. "Haha... Wow. Soft and thick. What did you use?"

"You know I don't take regular showers, Steven."

"Eww..." Steven stuck his tongue out as he started to work on her hair, trying to see what looked cool. Lapis laid there, feeling like a deity as someone was massaging her head _and_ styling her navy hair. She just wanted to stay relaxed _forever_. But no, her soul had other things to do.

She sat up, sighing. Steven stopped playing with her hair.

"Steven, I came here, because... I... need to talk to someone. Recently I've been having these _feelings_..." she revealed solemnly, holding her chest. "I've been having what you guys call... I dunno, _goosebumps_? Or something. In my chest, I think my soul is clawing itself out... trying to get excitement from fighting... it's so _energetic_ and wants me to release _energy_... it's like the devil is trying to get out. I don't know what to do with it."

"Well, first off, consult a doctor, not an eleven year-old approaching twelve in the next two months." Steven informed, thinking to himself. "And I think what you're having is an adrenaline rush. Well, it sounds like one. But... how long have you had this?"

"Two weeks, I think... I only noticed a week ago..." Lapis stated, putting her hand on her forehead. "Why, is that bad? Well, of course, I've read articles... it increases a lot of defense mechanisms. It means I've been on guard for two weeks straight..."

"You've been itching for a fight for two weeks... And two weeks ago, that's..." Steven's cheerful demeanor flattened into a tiny frown. The memory was still fresh in his mind, never letting go. He left that out of his words. "...Connie... and you... and _Aquamarine_. You want to kill her. You're still like this because you haven't completed what you're set to do. That's what I think. I don't know Gem _physiology_. But it's my theory."

Steven noticed her breathing was uneven. Sometimes ragged, other times shallow. "It's driving me _crazy_." she stated, "This place is too peaceful... I don't want to disturb that peace right now... Is this what Ruby feels? Well, damn, I can feel myself slowly losing to this feeling. My chest is... ugh..."

Lapis drew her head forward, forehead beaded with sweat. Her fist was clenched, fingers digging into her skin. She unclenched it, and it only left marks.

"Lapis..." Steven called worriedly.

"I'm okay... It's fine..." Lapis told herself reassuringly, before shaking her head. "No, it's not. I haven't had this before. For this long. I need to destroy _something_. Something big, something..." She wracked her head around. "Ugh... I feel like I need to vomit. But I can't. It's like on the tipping point and it's just _teasing_ me."

Steven closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He felt something building up in his chest, something clouding over his lungs and heart. It was his soul, trying to burst out. He could feel Lapis' taunt determination, the need to expend all that stuffed energy into a wave of destruction. It was this _rush_. He could see his right hand, but he didn't feel like it was there. His eyes focused on it, flexing his fingers around. He immediately felt a wave of nausea overcome him, his nose feeling like it was melting. He touched it and there was blood. Just like the other time he used this ability.

"You're missing your other hand," Steven stated bluntly, rubbing his fingers together to wipe the blood away.

Lapis winced and squared her shoulders, cringing away at the topic. "Well, _yeah_... you don't have to say it..."

"No, I mean," his eyes widened, realizing his bluntness. "You miss your other hand. You want it back." He steeled himself. "Your body is kinda... _compensating_ now. It doesn't work the same way as humans, but I felt what you feel. Your body is just freaking out about this... _loss_. It can't handle it... like, you need physical therapy or something."

"Oh." Lapis said, "Well, okay." She scratched her head before sarcastically adding, "Like that's easy." she flopped onto his bed, "I'm gonna sleep this off... G'night."

"It's afternoon. And you're gonna sleep in my room?" Steven asked. Lapis was already dozing off with closed eyes, her hair brushing over them like blinds. The demigem poked her arm, and she didn't respond. "You're a heavy sleeper, you know? Nothing short of a fall would wake you..."

KNOCK KNOCK.

Steven stood up, "Coming!"

He rushed over to the front door of their apartment, looking through the peephole and finding Sapphire and Amethyst. He opened it shortly afterwards, greeting them with a smile.

"What's up, guys?" he inquired.

"It's weird that of all the times I've visited you, I've never been here. Only Connie's place." Amethyst remarked with crossed arms.

"Uh..."

"Have you seen the news? Since last week?" Sapphire asked in monotone.

"I'm not up to date with media. No." Steven didn't really want to see any criticisms about him, so he secluded himself in his room and Connie's room for weeks. He opened the door wider, thinking of bringing them in the room. "Sorry, I should've let you in first."

"No, it's okay. We actually wanted you and Lapis..." Amethyst trailed away, thinking. "Wait, is she at home?"

"Yes," Steven replied simply, "She's sleeping."

"Well, we wanted the two of you to come with us." Sapphire said. She noticed his mixed expression on his face and was about to open his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. "No, it's not a mission. We just... well, there's a Gem registration that's been announced last week and you two haven't registered."

Steven raised a brow. He felt like the two Gems in front of him were door-to-door businessmen the way they composed themselves. "Huh. So, wh—"

"I think, it'd be better if you and Lapis just come with us, and we can help you with the registry. All your questions will be answered there." Amethyst interrupted without pause.

"Okay," Steven's hand left the doorknob, pointing his thumb to the room. "But I'd need to wake Lapis up."

"Yeah, go ahead. Her grumpy attitude is nothing we can't handle." Amethyst shrugged. Sapphire turned her head to the purple Gem, who looked back in an empathetic manner. "Yes, I know. We're stupid and we're gonna die at the hands of Lapis for waking her up, yadda yadda yadda..."

Steven turned to get Lapis, but something caught his eye in the window. He took a few steps before glancing at the outdoor scenery again, wondering if what he saw was just his imagination or something real. Raising a brow, he thought he saw Ruby out there. Well, maybe she was out there, since Amethyst and Sapphire were at his door. It was probably another prank to pull at Lapis...

* * *

Apparently not. Steven hadn't seen Ruby anywhere.

Lapis had been glaring at the two Crystal Gems with her ultramarine hair pulled up so that it wouldn't get in the way of her sight and the efficiency of the glare, which also showed her forehead... which nullified the effectivity of the glare.

"Dude, what's up with you?" Amethyst finally asked, turning her head to the ocean Gem. Lapis raised a brow at the question, wasn't it obvious? "Why're you doing the hair thingy?"

"Because she wants to screw with you," Sapphire replied. "After we woke her up, this is the most committed thing she could do to us with witnesses around."

"There is not a future where I will tell you that," Lapis negated slowly.

"You're right. You're just too transparent."

Lapis smirked. She thought Sapphire had _no_ idea what her motives were and that she was completely wrong—one hundred percent. "Is that so?" she asked.

"Yes, it is." Sapphire savagely rebutted, no hesitation. "I know your future, Lapi—"

Lapis blew a raspberry in her face. Amethyst and Steven couldn't resist a giggle that one of the strongest people in the world just did that.

The four Gems walked through the corridors of the facility, entering what seemed like a control room. The double glass doors opened automatically as they stepped onto the front mat. There was a couch, a small table and a bowl of sweets. There were glass walls on all four sides of the room to see what was beyond the divider, which was a control panel, where Pyrite, Howlite and Jade were playing cards with Helios on one side. Amethyst stared suspiciously in the four other Revolution Gems' way, before getting into business.

"Alright, have a seat," Amethyst started, her hand directing them to the sofas. Steven sat in one, waiting for Lapis to sit next to him. The ocean Gem kept her grumpy face on, arms crossed while feeling claustrophobic.

"Why are we here?" Lapis demanded bluntly, glancing at the "glass cage" they were in.

"To talk about stuff," Amethyst shrugged. "Why, you think we have _another agenda_? I mean... hahaha... _why would we have that_? You didn't... You didn't hear what I said..." She coughed into a fist. She then dropped her embarrassed act. "But seriously though, we're here to talk about registration! Because you weren't here since last week and Pearl didn't call you guys in! And I could see why, you guys have been getting bad blood between each other." she said, scratching her hair.

Steven contemplated at the ground, frowning as he remembered the events two weeks ago. He glanced at the glass wall, looking at Howlite. She noticed and stared back with concern written all over her face, now oblivious to her card game.

Steven interlocked his fingers together. "Uh, if you don't mind me asking, where's Ruby?"

"Ruby's been at the barn. She thinks it's bull getting orders from Pearl so she defected." Amethyst calmly answered, shrugging her shoulders. Sapphire crossed her arms visibly, clearing her throat. Amethyst laughed it off, "I'm kidding. She's just busy with trying to come up with new content for you," she said, aiming her eyes at Lapis.

Lapis snorted, "Typical."

 _Wow, I am on a_ road _with this lying thing._ Amethyst thought. _They totally believe me there! I am so guilty and ashamed while feeling so awesome at the same time... I can't believe myself, why am I lying to my friends—I'm sure I can have faith in them—but I can't risk it, what if they become like Ruby again—but, come on, it's Steven... and Lapis. But it's Steven—exactly! I don't know if they'll follow the same route, maybe—_

"Hey," Lapis snapped her fingers in Amethyst's face. The latter Gem woke from her thoughts. "You just blanked out."

"Wha—what happened?" the purple Gem asked, looking around.

"Nothing. You just stared at the ground." Lapis answered, glancing at Sapphire. "And she insisted it would be better if what we're talking about came from you... Like you guys are trying to _persuade_ us."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, we totally are," Amethyst replied bluntly, hoping her honesty right there would gain their trust even more. Sapphire facepalmed and clenched a fist in the other. Amethyst continued, "Alright, so here's the deal. The Revolution had issued a legal document to the world for Gem registration. So, the Gems that are all lost and scared would have a safe haven to go to, which is also legal unlike those made by rogue groups. You would have to work in the Revolution to make mankind a better place, and in return, you get awesome perks like having your own room, being protected on Earth grounds, or getting all expenses paid by the Revolution, so things are practically free!"

Amethyst made sure to keep away from mentioning that Pearl made the document, or else Lapis would steer clear from this action. She also tried to lure them in by making the offers seem to stand out more.

"You make a tempting offer," Lapis stated, narrowing her eyes. Amethyst grinned. "But..."

Amethyst groaned.

"...We can't accept this. We've got everything we need. Besides, you're gonna let a _minor_ work?" Lapis asked, motioning her head towards Steven. "That's child labor."

Amethyst didn't think of that, but thankfully, Sapphire intervened.

"Yes, Steven is a special case. He's also half-human, and..." Sapphire was about to say Pearl, but caught herself there. "...the Revolution have made _arrangements_. Steven will have much more freedom in this than other Gems. He'll be able to visit Connie and have special permission to all facilities in this place. There will be a private tutor to teach him for a few hours daily, and that's the only restriction. Steven is... a child, lack of a better word, and of an entirely new species, so we have to keep an eyes on him if his powers ever develop further."

Steven crossed his arms, feeling a bit too important at the moment. Yes, he was the son of Rose Quartz, the only demigem living in the entire _universe_ , able to have advantages over the physiology of both races, but he wasn't _that_ powerful. Times like these, he would just want to stay by Connie's bedside again.

"Come on, you _have_ to accept..." Amethyst insisted.

"And if we don't?" Lapis asked before Steven was able to.

"I was going to say _why_ you have to accept, but you just _needed_ to interrupt me—"

"Fine, I'm not interrupting you."

"You just did it _agai_ —never mind." Amethyst sighed. Since Ruby wasn't here, Lapis had to make one of the Crystal Gems a victim to her taunts. "If you don't accept, we're going to have to list you as public enemies. Because if the government doesn't have a grip on you, so they won't trust you. They're going to think of you as a potential threat, and—"

"So, _hypothetically_ , I join," Lapis interrupted, infuriating Amethyst. "The government isn't going to see me as less just because I did so. In fact, they're going to be suspicious because that's not who I am, so they're going to take a closer look, and... well, what do you know, I'm potential threat numero uno because I can _control the Earth's oceans and humidity_. They're not going to think of me as less of an enemy if I join. _Plus_ ," she motioned her hand to the demigem. "It's _Steven_! How could you even list _him_ as _public enemy_?"

"And _you_ are _Lapis Lazuli_ ," Sapphire retorted. "If you don't join, we'll have to hunt you down and lock you in a prison facility by government's orders."

"Oh, like I'm afraid of _that_ ," Lapis sneered, heating up the conversation.

"You're going to hunt down Gems and lock them up if they don't surrender to the government?" Steven finally spoke up, noticing the little fact. He'd been observing and listening to this discussion most of the time, like it was a tactic he inherited from both his mother or something. "What did they do? It wasn't their fault that the Rogue Nation started up or that they were following Bloodstone through evil means. They were desperate and hurt, they're scared! They needed someone to lead them into this world and yes, maybe they chose poorly, but they just wanted to be _safe_. This registry might propose safety, but you're treating other Gems like they're nothing!"

Amethyst and Sapphire were surprised by the outburst Steven managed, and as much as Lapis were to say she was proud, she was just as inwardly shocked as they were. She just didn't show it. She thought it was brave and smart that Steven was able to understand and stand up for the rest of the unsung Gems. It may have been a small instance of Rose coming out of him, but Lapis didn't care. She was proud of him.

"Steven, it's not like that..." Amethyst tried, thinking of a rebuttal. She started feeling cramps in her stomach, the guilt of the same thing happening again... It was like Ruby, except he voiced it out more.

"Then, what is it like?" he asked.

"Look, all of us, _Gems_ , we're not as innocent as we look." Amethyst stated, "We've all gone to war and did some nasty stuff. Except for me and you, we were born after that, but that's beside the point," she added in quickly. "Anyway, all of those Gems out there that you are protecting aren't naive or all pure and innocent. They have seen and been through the hardships of war, and we are providing a legal protection unit to let them redeem themselves for their actions during the _Ambergeddon_ or that time in the desert with Bloodstone... or maybe they're Homeworld Gems fighting against Earth forces millennia ago. We are providing a way for them to rehabilitate themselves into this world while slowly helping mankind better itself."

"We also need to get humans to trust us again," Sapphire informed. "The public has been on a fifty-fifty on our reputation nowadays since we already have evidence that this act could do good, like rebuilding Kronos Quad. It's already happened and we're getting good rep from it. Heck, even the world council approves of this, there's been ninety-eight countries signing the confirmation for this act. If you don't accept, you're going against the orders of a hundred nations."

Lapis sighed. She brought her only hand up to tussle with her hair in stress of their words. She couldn't work for the Revolution, or she'll be trapped into a working society, which was what she imagined Homeworld was.

"I still won't accept..." Lapis said, turning to Steven. "You?"

"I don't really support this act." Steven replied.

Amethyst cupped her face in her hands. Oh, this was going bad. This was turning out into another Ruby scenario for her. And they didn't even read the legal papers! Sapphire crossed her arms, trying to think of a way to get them on their side. Her future vision wasn't helping much, but she wasn't going to let them go anti-registration.

 _There has to be a way!_ Sapphire thought.

It took a while for Lapis to notice it. But when she did, her eyes darkened. Amethyst and Sapphire noticed the ill change in expression.

"You're not going to let us go until we accept, are you?" Lapis found out through her observations. "You're going to trap us here, wait it out, until we register."

Amethyst's eyes watered at the accusation. "After Ruby, we couldn't take any chances."

"Ruby? What happened to Ruby?" Steven asked, before dawning on him that they lied to him and Lapis about Ruby's absence. Then he remembered that Amethyst did tell them that Ruby had defected from Pearl's orders, which she said was a lie, but actually was the truth, and since Pearl wasn't there... "Ruby didn't accept the registration. And Pearl was the one who organized all this."

Amethyst bit her tongue.

Lapis found herself clicking gears into place with Steven's statements. "You didn't have Pearl anywhere to try to talk to me because you think Pearl would upset me. You tried to steer us away from Ruby's disappearance because you didn't want us to follow her example." she said, just following what Steven said. She noticed that these weren't her words, but rather _Steven's_ , which made her feel like she was cheating. "You tried to make this room feel comfortable to persuade us when it's actually a cage of unbreakable material, isn't it? And those four Gems out there, they're just more lackeys to stop us."

Ruby and Sapphire backed away from her intimidating stance, like at any moment she would kill them for this decpetion. Howlite dropped the cards and just stared at the glass cage, while the other three kept their tabs while under the impression that they didn't hear Lapis. Steven glanced at Howlite and glared, at which Howlite contemplated at the ground in shame.

"I have to say, you tried your best," Lapis remarked coldly.

Jade sat uncomfortably, feeling as if a murder was going to happen right next to her.

"But the offer is a no." Lapis said, deepening her glare. "And you will release us, unless you want to spend the rest of the year in your Gems." she glanced at every single one of them, before turning to Sapphire and Amethyst. "Let us out. Or you two will be the first."

"I'm sorry," Amethyst replied, before her and Sapphire's forms flickered. Lapis rushed towards them, thinking they were teleporting away like Aquamarine did. She wasn't going to let them do that. So, with her newly gained momentum, she swung a fist at them, only for her to phase through them and slam her fist into the glass wall with a resounding hit. The glass wobbled, only a small scratch to show that it was damaged. From her table, Howlite and Jade sunk in their seats, because scratching that shouldn't even be possible with Lapis' measured strength.

Sapphire continued, "But we were never here." And they vanished right in front of the two Gems' faces, a hologram projector on the ground taking the images back.

Lapis stomped on the projector, scattering pieces of technology on the floor. She stalked towards the four Gems out of the glass cage, slamming her hand against the wall, making them jump at the sound.

"A _prison_... _Again_ ," Lapis mused, before invoking her anger. "Are you kidding me? Do you think of me as an individual anymore? Do you even know who I am?!" she demanded. "I'm so triggered right now. Let us out of this room or I swear I'll destroy this place! Do you hear me?!"

Steven took a back seat to Lapis' tries at getting them out. They had to let them out sometime, right? And when that opportunity arises... well, Steven will be genuinely thanking Rose Quartz's skills.

He waited for some time, glancing at Lapis or Howlite every so often. He felt like an animal in a zoo, trapped in a cage for everyone to see. He wondered what Lapis thought of this, but from his knowledge, she had been trapped in a prison for too long too many times for her to stand idle and let it happen.

Then, the lights went out in the control room, and all that's left were the emergency lights that kept the place visible.

Howlite and Jade stood up from their seats, inspecting the computers. Pyrite wordlessly stood guard in front of the door, having no words but—

"So, uh, hey," Pyrite greeted.

Lapis glared, "Is that it? That's all you're going to say? What, are you going to be the one who surprisingly, in an _inexplicable_ twist, lets us out?"

"Uh, no. I'm not that kind of guy." Pyrite replied, jabbing the tip of her shoe into the floor, since she had no other outward body language to speak other than impatience. "I'm just saying... just accept the accords and make this easy for all of us? We all have lives here."

"Tough luck," Lapis sniped, "If you had any idea of who I am, you wouldn't be persuading _now_."

"I tried," Pyrite shrugged, turning towards the front gate, in case the ones who turned off the lights in the room had the idea to try to break Lapis and Steven out. Oh, how right she was.

Immediately, a green trail zipped into the room at a blindng speed, knocking down all four Revolution Gems and whoever else was working in the control room. The green blaze stopped in front of the glass cage, and it was none other than the speed... demon?

Lapis noted that this Gem was a bit darkish green than the usual bleak ultramarine. And this speedster had the body proportions of a woman than a man, so Lapis didn't know if this was even the same person that threatened her and told her to fly to her death three weeks ago.

"I'm here to rescue you."

Okay, that definitely sounded like a woman.

"Who _are_ you?" Lapis asked, narrowing her eyes.

The speedster was irked by this question, before speeding around the room for some kind of switch to open the double glass doors.

Before the two prisoners knew it, the front gate opened and Ruby charged in with Kyanite following.

"Hello," Ruby saluted with a smirk. Lapis knew that the hotheaded Gem wouldn't live this down. She was going to save her from a prison, the greatest way to destroy a powerful person's pride. "We three will be rescuing you for the day."

"Ruby!" Steven called, "I thought I saw you through my window!"

"Yeah, I was spying just in case." Ruby shrugged, before turning her attention to the speedster. "Hey, you got it yet?"

"Maybe this one," the speedster pressed a button, and the glass doors separated a little, before it fizzled and malfunctioned. It stopped working and still trapped Lapis and Steven. The speedster slammed her fist on the panel. "Or not..."

Ruby punched the glass cage, and it only shook. "Well, damn... Kyanite, your training?" she asked, turning to the cyan Gem.

"It's only been a week." Kyanite narrowed her eyes as she placed her hands on the glass doors.

The speedster turned and ran out of the front gate, before returning. "I just bought us some time."

"What did you do?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

The compound shook, the emergency lights went out. Instead, red alarms were set off and intensely flashing through the whole room, painting their bodies red.

Kyanite focused, closing her eyes as her fingertips straned themselves. Energy seeped from within her and she tried to find the correct way of manipulating it to her needs. Then, in a flash, a vortex opened up and a portal that punched through the fourth dimension was made. The portal only had swirly edges, and everything could be seen clearly through it. The glass doors weren't an obstacle anymore.

Lapis' eyes widened, surprised, and took a step through the portal, coming out from the other side fine. Steven did the same and was awestruck by her new power.

"You can make portals?" he asked with a gleeful chuckle.

Kyanite felt the dizziness kick in. "Uh, yeah, I can. I'm training to do more, but..." she toppled over. Ruby caught her. "...it has its aftereffects."

"Emerald, I don't think she'll have enough for a teleport," Ruby informed the speedster. Lapis stared at the speed demon, who took Kyanite's shoulder like she was going to take her out of the place first.

"No, I can do _fine_ ," Kyanite said through gritting teeth.

"Are you sure, kid?" Ruby asked in a mentor fashion, which she inwardly laughed at herself for.

"Yeah... Yeah! I can do it." Kyanite replied confidently. "I can do this. Hold me."

The four Gems put their hands on Kyanite's arms. The cyan Gem concentrated on her energy once again, trying to manipulate the dimensions. It was a hard and complicated task, but with every chance she did this with Ruby's training, she got significantly better at it.

It took a while, tension rising between the five Gems. Pyrite groaned as she got up, only to have her head kicked by the speedster, which knocked the golden Gem unconscious again.

They could hear the footsteps coming closer.

Kyanite tried to reach into the dimensions harder, her own mind falling through different levels of space.

Steven brought out his shield and went in front of Kyanite, defending the five of them from the front gate. Ruby raised her gauntlet arm and Lapis made spears of ice floating over her upturned palm. The speedster did nothing, since she or he didn't have any abilities to improve the situation.

The front gate opened, with Pearl leading Hematite, Amethyst, Moonstone and Sapphire. Pearl had her spear raised, Amethyst took out _Parry_ , and Hematite had his hand outstretched to them. The two teams of five took their stand, the anti-registration having a formation around Kyanite and the pro-registration standing in the way of their only physical exit.

"Stand down! You have nowhere to go!"

Light glowed from Kyanite's Gem, which was hidden under one of the flaps of her five-pointed cape. "That's what you think."

Kyanite pulled them backwards into the rift between dimensions, and they vanished from the Revolution's sights.

* * *

 **A/N:** Geez, was this a chapter! Wow. I have to say, my schedule after updating a chapter is to have a day of rest, a day planning out the new chapter if I hadn't beforehand, then the rest telling myself I need to catch up on lost time and hurry up with writing. And I could say I feel proud that I did most of the back half of this chapter in the span of a few hours! Pretty effin' impressive if I say so myself!

And already, we have a mystery character. Who is this red Gem named _Helios_? Yeah, you probably already know. Or you don't, which is entirely fine because I don't think you'll be able to guess it. Huehehe... (It's so painful. This _mystery_ is so incoherent.)

Looks like our main characters have chosen their sides. And minor characters... well, minor ones, uh... yeah, they picked their sides. Probably some betrayal going on here and there. Also, new note, I'm gonna be introducing more new characters that probably don't mean anything, so Steven will _always_ be protagonist. Hey, don't go groaning about it! It's in the title!

Now, we have our players officially. And since I like making notes.

Anti-registration: Steven, Lapis Lazuli, Ruby, Kyanite, Emerald

Pro-registration: Pearl, Amethyst, Sapphire, Hematite, Moonstone, Jade, Pyrite, Howlite, Helios

Now, don't worry. Other characters (you know, _Onyx_ the OP) and suprises will join in. But I kinda think the teams are a bit uneven. Team Anti is too OP.

 _Fun Fact:_ the original game plan of rallying Steven and Lapis to pro-registration side had Pearl in the discussion. Now that wouldn't be persuasive, would it? Steven and Pearl had a bit of a heated talk, while Lapis kind of just ignored her. Scrapped because bringing Pearl into that would be a terrible plan of persuasion and people would call me out on how stupid they were, which they aren't.

* * *

Breaking News: This was originally called "Taking Sides", but I much rather prefer the visual of them putting a line in the sand.

Next Chapter Title: "Rose Garden"

* * *

Character faves:

Amethyst: 1

Lapis Lazuli: 1

Peridot: 1 (thank you, AllenaQuest23, for reminding me this existed.)

Sapphire: 1


	47. Chapter 45: Rose Garden

Chapter 45: Rose Garden

* * *

Kyanite, Ruby, Emerald, Lapis and Steven all fell into the rift between dimensions.

The five of them exited the colorful realm before they knew it, and started heading down into a face-first of vines. They slid down the green cliff and fell further into an opening of a flat gray area. All five Gems smacked onto the ground, not moving at first from the pain of the fall. Lapis cursed herself for not using her ability to fly to get Steven out of this predicament.

Kyanite laughed ecstatically as the teleportation worked, before passing out from exhaustion. Ruby got up first, dusting herself off as she heaved Kyanite's body onto her shoulders. The cyan Gem was taller than Ruby, so it seemed unproportional when Ruby carried her.

Lapis muttered to herself, holding her waist and puffing out harsh breaths. She fell on her back, where her Gem was... and was probably cracked. She agonizingly pulled herself into a sitting position, trying to reach for the small of her back. She didn't seem to reach it, only to remember that she was using her nub to get it. She sighed as she switched hands, only for Ruby to intervene.

"Your Gem's fine," the red warrior informed. Lapis groaned and her cheeks flushed. Ruby must've seen her nub and was going to talk about it. "What happened to your hand?"

"Got sliced off," Lapis replied gravely.

"Then... _regenerate_ ," Ruby told her like it was an obvious thing to do. Lapis turned to face her, glaring at the red Gem's clueless expression. She really didn't know.

" _Quarain_ was involved."

Ruby thought what "Quarain" could possibly be, before remembering that it was Aquamarine's ultimate weapon. Her mouth opened slightly into an "O" and her head nodded in understanding. That wand could destroy a Gem's life by disrupting the regenerative process of their physical forms. Unless they had a way to manipulate the coding of Gems to correct Aquamarine's magic, then Lapis would be forever one-handed.

"Sorry for your loss," Ruby consoled. Lapis was surprised that she was being sympathetic about her hand going missing, and had a small smile on her lips to show her gratitude. "If you need anything, I'll lend you a _hand_."

Lapis' thankful smile flipped into a burning scowl. Ruby's former innocent expression burst into a smug smile, unable to keep it in.

" _And so it begins,_ " Lapis murmured darkly. "You giant, prick-loaded can of pure asshole-ness."

"Easy with the words, bud," Ruby raised a hand as if to calm her down, as she dipped her head forwards with eyes closed. Lapis knew she was preparing another jab at her. "Can't let it get out of _hand_ now, can we?"

"It's terrible," Lapis growled. "You're terrible."

"And I saved your life from imprisonment. Two packs of ammunition straight for your—"

"I could've freed Steven and myself in due time," Lapis interrupted as she shifted her weight around, holding her waist and getting up. She noticed that Ruby didn't seem to be harmed much by the fall. "How did you recover so quickly?"

"I trained Kyanite. Experienced first- _hand_ her first concentrated teleports. I know how to prepare myself if things go remotely bad." Ruby replied, heaving Kyanite up as she was beginning to slip. Lapis didn't notice the hand pun in her sentences.

"Uh-huh," Lapis knelt down in front of Steven, who stayed still on his side with eyes wide open. She approached him, holding out a hand to see if he was still alive and he squirmed back desperately.

"Don't move me!" Steven whispered, trying to stay frozen in movement. "My body's still numb."

"Oh," Lapis shivered at the thought of a numb body. Last time that happened, she died. And the first time it happened, she was in a mirror. They were both horrible experiences. "Then, uh, we could scout around and find shelter..."

"That's not needed, camp's just a few minutes from here." Ruby stated, pointing at a direction where the ravine they fell in continued. "I know this place like the back of my _hand_."

"Well, that's convenie..." Lapis trailed away, sighing angrily and glaring at Ruby without another word. The red Gem grinned widely, which annoyed Lapis. She finger-gunned Lapis and winked. Steven wondered what this _camp_ was.

Emerald groaned as she started to get up, her whole body had splattered against the ground face-down. The speedster sat back and rubbed her neck, a low grunt escaping her throat, which sounded harsh and deep like her former voice as a speed demon. Lapis stared Emerald up and down, checking her out, making sure the speedster had curves now and it wasn't an illusion to her mind.

"Are you the same speed demon that told me to fly to my death?" Lapis inquired inquisitively.

The speedster looked at her, slowly rubbing her neck. "...yes."

Lapis wasted no time in asking, "Why are you a woman?"

"Does it matter?" Emerald replied in a gruff tone. It still weirded Lapis out that she sounded feminine, and nodded at response. "People don't recognize me like this. It's a new look and it won't bother them. Also, rallying Gems into a team looking like a demon wouldn't be reassuring."

"You've got _that_ right," Lapis retorted, seeing as how she literally didn't know if this Gem was the same speed demon as the male one. "What, you scared Gems too much with your male form and now you change your sexuality because you need them back and you needed a body that didn't scare them away?"

"Exactly," the speedster answered.

"Come _on_ , Lapis," Ruby scolded, but it was all in good fun. "You can't just go asking sensitive questions _that_ bluntly. You literally dove into that topic."

"I do whatever the hell I want," she replied.

"Except for anything that requires two _hands_."

"Shut up."

"It's only been two minutes and you can't _handle_ it anymore. That's sad. The Lapis I know would've lasted longer. Oh, wait, it's probably because that one didn't have her _hands_ full." Ruby stated, "You know, because you have one hand now, you can't carry the same weight as back then, so it mea—"

" _I get it_ ," Lapis grunted slowly. She sighed, "Steven, you okay yet?"

The demigem huffed as he pulled himself up, rubbing his forearm muscles. The pain flaring in his body subsided after a while. "Yeah. We can go now."

Emerald cracked her neck and zipped off, leaving a trail of translucent green wisps.

Lapis grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Go on. Go ahead. Leave us," she said, kicking a rock on its side.

"Follow the trail," Ruby stated, heaving Kyanite up once again. Steven went after her, while glancing at the young teleporting Gem on Ruby's shoulders. He had a lot of bad memories with Kyanite, and he avoided her because of it. He felt bad now, since she just saved him and Lapis from the Revolution.

* * *

The four Gems finally got to the _camp_ , where Emerald waited for them.

It was an intersection of all the different directions the ravine could've gone, with a star entrance to a spherical vine cage. At first glance, it seemed fine, but upon closer inspection, the vines were actually moving, wiggling, writhing around each other to strengthen their bond like the silk in a spider's string. The Gems paid no attention to this, except Steven, who was uncomfortable with it.

"Are you sure it's safe in there?" Steven asked, looking up at the giant vines.

Ruby glanced up at the green organisms. "Yeah, sure. We kinda made a pact. They offer protection and we don't destroy it. We _shook hands_ on it too." In the back, Lapis raised a brow at that.

"Seems very... far-fetched." Steven replied. "Discussing protection services with trees of all things... Are they sentient?"

"You weren't here. It was weird at first, but everyone got over it." Ruby groaned, "I had to explain it to newcomers all the time. It got complicated and I keep messing up my words because I got annoyed by it. So, simply put, it will not lay a _hand_ on us."

Steven glanced at Lapis for reassurance, who had a grumpy look on her. She shrugged in response to Steven, softening her glare, and continued onward.

They entered the camp, where in the middle stood a giant statue that was covered by a pale-yellow drape, struck by natural sunlight from the hole in the vines' barrier. Hidden under that humungous cloak, was _Rose's fountain_. Ruby didn't want to startle the former Homeworld Gems who had been recruited to this resistance group, which was why the statue was covered. Everyone at the camp knew what it was, except for Steven, who just cluelessly stared at the giant thing, before moving on to the small tents and the variety of Gems wandering around the camp.

Most of the Gems that were residing in this camp noticed their arrival.

"They came back! No one's missing!" someone shouted, informing others that the five powerful Gems were here.

They made their way over to Ruby, happy that the one who put this whole rebellion group together was able to make it back, _with recruits_. What was impressive was the amount of Gems Ruby was able to rally up, probably due to not needing sleep to accomplish this. She brought in twenty-seven Gems in a few days, excluding Steven and Lapis, with her memory of the coordinates of Gem refuges. She was a high-class soldier for Rose Quartz's rebellion back in the day, so she had already kept track of things she deemed important to her.

There were a squad of rubies that greeted our Ruby with smiles and excited compliments. Steven cracked a small smile, thinking it was cute, as Lapis stayed unamused since rubies were _mostly_... dimwitted. They weren't like Ruby, who was a rival to her at snide remarks. These rubies were compassionate and had a variety of different designs to differentiate one from another. Steven still got lost in who was who.

A green-blue Gem came up to Ruby with a bow slung over her shoulder, taking Kyanite from her shoulders. The Gem looked a bit confused, but her eyes were wide with attentiveness. Her long sky-blue hair was fluffy and gave its shape a bit of a curvy and bouncy-look. She wore a sleeveless suit that was plenty of shades darker than herself. Steven watched intently as Kyanite was carried away by the archer, to be put into an infirmary tent.

Then, the smarter Gems took notice of Steven, noting his human flesh. He wore the star of Rose Quartz on his chest and shoulders, which didn't make sense to them, until they considered the fact that he was part-human and part-Gem, and the only demigem in existence they knew of was Rose Quartz's son. They had to admit, he remsembled her a lot.

"Are you _Rose Quartz's son_?"

"Are you the _demigem_?"

" _Steven_ , right?"

"You decapitated me once. That was awesome."

Steven felt icky from that last statement. But apart from that, he nodded to these Gems that were huddling around him, and answered every single one of them as politely as he could, telling them that he was indeed the demigem. It was until Lapis cut in and with her grumpy demeanor (from all of Ruby's hand puns), made them back away from a nervous and sweating Steven. As protective as a mother could be of her territory, Lapis' glare was a ticket to hell for the Gems hassling Steven.

" _Yes_ ," her voice cut through all of them with a threatening tone. "He is the _demigem_ , _son of Rose_ , known as _Steven_."

Then, the Gems recognized her immediately as Lapis Lazuli, the harbinger of hurricanes, strongest Gem on the planet for a whole ten years. The water witch got the attention of all of them, whose eyes widened at the realization that an immense powerhouse was in their group, and she wasn't attacking them. They finally became confident in their positions and side of the Gem Registry, and that if their camp gets attacked, Lapis could deal with it no problem.

"Are you Lapis Lazuli?"

"Are you the Gem that could control all water on Earth? That's pretty _slick_."

"Holy moly, you're my idol. You know, all Lapis Lazulis are batteries and you defected from that stereotype and became the strongest on Earth. That's so _cool_! What a backstory! I'm not sure if it's all true, but that's all I got from the rumors!"

"You froze me and I got cut in half. That was awesome too."

Lapis was surprised by how well they responded to her appearance. She swore that they would've kicked her out the second she stepped in, most probably because she generally hated all Gems her whole life and thought they would hate her back. Their obliviousness to her hate and their respect for her gave her a new perspective on these Gems. Her new view on them was either they were stupid, or that they were much better than the monsters that trapped her in the mirror millennia ago.

"Yes, I _am_ Lapis Lazuli." she told them. The Gems were like journalists trying to get the most out of their victims with their questions, and Lapis got annoyed.

Steven gave a small sigh and wiped the sweat of his forehead, as the attention wasn't focused on him anymore, but on Lapis. He glanced to the side and saw Emerald watching from a few feet away. He was curious about a lot of things surrounding the speedster, since he had never seen her—or _him_ —since the previous year. And also, Lapis had asked if Emerald was the Gem who sent her to her death, which made some concerns for the demigem.

Steven approached the green speedster. "Are you the same Emerald that dropped me off a building?" he started, before realizing that was a bad way to start a conversation with someone.

" _Well_..." It took a while, but Emerald reluctantly replied, "...yes."

Steven rolled with it. "Oh... erm, nice. We're working with you now. You know, back then in our fight last year, Hematite told me you were uncooperative and worked better alone. And that you were brash and impatient." Steven couldn't stop his mouth from running and basically insulted the Gem right in his—or her— face. He felt dread loom over him, feeling there might be some punishment to recall that. Mostly because her attire was menacing and dark, unlike the other Gems, giving off an intimidating and mysterious demeanor. Like there was no telling what the Gem might do.

"I still do. And I still am." Emerald promptly replied. There was no hostility or dislike in her voice. It was like she was already fine with the idea.

It was weird to Steven that this was the same Gem as before, since last year she was a man with all the slangs and now she was a woman with rugged formalities. He had listened to her and Lapis' conversation on why she changed her gender, and shrugged the explanation off as such.

"But, you seem more patient," Steven remarked.

"I'm just more content with life," Emerald responded. "But now I'm pissed."

Steven didn't know what she meant by being content with life. Or what _he_ meant by that. However, he asked another question. "Why're _you_ angry?"

"My plans are being disrupted because Pearl brought up that document to the world." Emerald growled, fingers twitching in her folded arms. "I already warned her not to get in my way. Seems like she forgot."

"Okay..." Steven twiddled with his fingers. He thought back on what the recent event he had gone through meant for him. He wouldn't be able to see Connie for a while, since he'd be too busy hiding here. He gathered his courage and looked up at Emerald. "Uh, this may seem like an odd thing to ask, but... can I ask for a favor?"

"What do you want?" Emerald demanded, straight to the point. Steven jumped at her tone, and was also surprised at her compliance.

"I want to meet a friend... tell her she might not be seeing me because... I feel like I'll be staying here until we find a way to dismiss the Gem registry." Steven replied, "Because..."

"... _we're in hiding_." they both said at the same time. Steven blinked.

"You speak slow." Emerald scoffed as her explanation to how she knew what he was going to say. The speedster looked around, sighing, before unfolding her arms. She grabbed Steven by the scruff of his neck and hailed him over her shoulders, letting him straddle the back of her neck. "Hold tight."

"Wait! I haven't told you—"

FWIIISSHHH!

The wind howled into Steven's ears, rushing past his face. The air was cool, but it wasn't worth the blood rushing through his body and his heart pumping faster to compensate the flow. He held her tightly, thinking he might slip and end up in Europe or Asia. He didn't know where the camp was in the first place.

The scene shifted from place to place, colors passing by at an instant. He saw the skies change from cloudless skies, to rainy weather, to snow, to storms... The sun went by from one side to the other, telling Steven how far this travel was. It took about a few minutes for the trip to go by, when they finally arrived at Promenade City, where he and Lapis lived.

Steven was breathless. His face was hot from all the blood staying in place. He felt like he was about to pass out. Emerald was still running around, but she went slower to look for the place. "Uh, if you could..."

"Yeah, I know." Emerald looked around the city, eyes taking in information faster than Steven could even comprehend if she ever told him. " _There_."

She zipped into a house, got into an apartment, before rushing out, faster than Steven could blink. Emerald raced over to Connie's place, halting abruptly in her room with a cool swerve. The demigem was surprised he hadn't died of whiplash or a hemorrhage. Maybe Emerald had prevented it somehow, but he wouldn't really know the sciences of it.

Steven looked around the room, finding it completely empty. "Where..."

"Bathroom," Emerald stated.

"You checked?"

"I was able to find this location after looking through _your_ house... just a few moments ago."

"I didn't... even _know_... if that's even... I didn't even _think_ we... You're _that_ fast?" he finally asked in shock.

"It's not that impressive if I couldn't beat Onyx," Emerald mumbled.

Steven continued to become astonished by the speedster. "Huh, you fought her?"

"Yeah, I was there. When you arrived to the battlefield and wiped the floor with 'er, I decided to just go back to doing what I do." Emerald replied, setting the demigem down. She paced around the room, touching every object while going unnoticed by Steven. Mostly because her movements weren't possible to be captured by the naked eye.

"What do you do?" Steven asked, curious about what a speedster like her could be doing in her free time.

"Work on this suit," she replied simply. "It's how I don't burn everything or cause other setbacks while having someone with my mass go at such speeds. I calculate I'd be able to shatter the planet if I want to. But of course, that's if I go fast enough... and that would take a lot of buildup time... and _energy_..."

The specifics made Steven's head hurt. "Your speed increases the more you run?"

"My own ability is to be able to accelerate. Keeping speed is not a great factor of mine. The suit I'm wearing right now keeps me from damaging the environment around me, and also helps me go even faster if need be." she replied, "I lose speed overtime as I don't use it. And it burns a lot of my energy. The suit helps, but it's really just me doing all the work. I could explain how my energy output works. I expend as much energy as you would if you used your shield, but the time I perceive is much faster and everything around me goes slower as I use my speed, and all that action would burn up my energy in the time I perceive, so I would need to go back into this state, where I don't really use my speed. I decelerate at the same intensity as my acceleration, so it's just waiting it out and hoping I don't die of energy loss. Of course, I still have my fun as I wait. Like I've already poked all the stuff on that shelf during this conversation."

"Uh..." Steven was, again, dumbfounded by the speedster. All information she gave him about her own abilities just continue to escalate in destructive force. "What happens if the suit gets damaged?"

"It better not," she answered ominously.

The bathroom door opened up and Connie cautiously stepped out. She looked at Steven and Emerald, eyes wide with anticipation. The human girl got in radius of Steven and gave a cautious glance at the speedster.

"I, uh, could hear you from inside, so... what's up? Where's Lapis? And, uh..." She turned to Emerald, "you have to be some kind of speedster, right? Have I met you before? 'Cause that sounds familiar..."

The speedster just stared, before gradually shaking her head as a "no".

"I'm gonna have to go in hiding, Connie," Steven replied softly. His voice was shaky and happy, trying to be nonchalant with the information. "There's a law for Gems now! In short, Gems should work for the government if they want to have rights to stay on Earth! If not, then they'll be locked up in prison without an argument. Lapis and I... kinda refuted against it... And now we're in hiding!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, trying to lighten the mood.

It took a while for Connie to soak the information in.

"That doesn't sound as well as you're saying it to be." Connie replied in a concerned tone. "So... you, Lapis, uh..." she looked at Emerald for help.

"Emerald," the speedster replied calmly, as if acting like they've never met before.

"Emerald," Connie repeated, letting the name roll off her tongue without a second thought. She never really knew her from last year, so her existence was forgotten already. "You, Steven, and _you_ , Emerald, and _Lapis_ , are all going to be in hiding?"

"And Ruby and Kyanite and a few more coming to our group." Steven said, "So, I have to be in hiding... Unless..." Steven turned to the speedster. "Hey, Emerald, are you fast enough to evade satellite imaging?"

Emerald nodded.

Steven grinned, turning to Connie. "Hey, I could visit you now!" he exclaimed, thinking Emerald would be kind enough to let him visit Connie. He would be correct.

Connie scratched her head. "That's great... _but_..."

"But...?"

"I, um, wouldn't want to do anything if it's going to hinder your process, _or_ may get you guys caught."

Steven glanced at Emerald for any response to that remark. The speedster remembered her fight with Onyx and how _that_ had turned out. And nobody knew what Onyx was doing. Besides that, Pearl would eventually find a way to combat Emerald, and the speedster would just stomp over all her contraptions to get the message straight, before having another plan royally screw the speed demon up.

"I _could_ get caught," Emerald replied, stating the assumption true.

Connie sighed, "I wouldn't want you guys to screw up because of me. I'm not worth the risk..."

Steven was about to refute, when she continued.

"I'm really not, Steven. You're the son of the Rebellion leader. You're one of the strongest beings on Earth. A powerful asset like you shouldn't risk losing a battle because of a preteen girl." Connie replied, giving a small pathetic smile. "And besides, last time I got involved with Gems... I made you guys worry too much."

Steven contemplated at her. He went in and gave her a hug. Connie was surprised at the suddenness, before returning it.

"What's this for?" Connie asked.

"If things go wrong," Steven replied. "At least I've got a moment with my best friend."

Emerald was watching and she couldn't hold in a sarcastic " _Wow_."

Steven let go and gave Connie a smile. A genuine one. The girl chuckled at the awkwardness. "Jam buddies?" she asked, holding up a fist.

Steven didn't recognize the phrase, but did a fist bump with her. "Jam buddies," he replied.

Connie's eyes widened at the reality of her using those words. Steven and her never used that line, and it was only in her dreams that they did. He only replied because he was being sympathetic to her. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing." Connie waved it off. "You better get going. I don't know if you've got a limit on staying here, but I guess, the less you stay, the better."

Steven turned to Emerald, who said, "We better go before Lapis floods the place trying to find where you've gone."

"Oh, right, we didn't tell her..."

Steven hopped onto Emerald's shoulders and were gone in an instant. There were trails of green aura emanating from the speedster to signify her direction, but that faded away pretty quick.

* * *

Steven and Emerald came back to the rebellion camp with a skid.

The demigem waited a few moments before getting off of Emerald's shoulders, trying to get used to the ground. His legs shook like spaghetti, making him tumble. The speedster crossed her arms and went away to get herself back to normal.

Lapis was staring at the statue, which was still cloaked. Steven approached her. The demigem didn't fully know what made Gems drawn to the large object. He didn't ask. Lapis glanced at Steven, giving a sigh of relief.

"If it weren't for Ruby, I wouldn't have trusted Emerald with you." Lapis remarked, before turning to Steven with a soft glare. "How could you even trust him?" she asked, still thinking that Emerald was a "he". "And what's with disappearing without even telling me, huh? At a time like this? Do you even know what I'd think when you vanish like that, even for fifteen minutes?" she rebuked.

"I'm sorry, Lapis," Steven replied empathetically. He could understand why she was like that. "I just went to visit Connie."

"Good... _good_ ," Lapis rubbed her hands together, only to realize she would only rub her nub. "At least she knows. But... how do you just leave the place with _Emerald_ of all people?"

"She's fast," Steven replied.

"No, I mean... how do you just jump into her arms and think she would do as you say?" Lapis asked, her brows furrowed in concern. "Don't you think that she'll kidnap you or something?"

"Well..." Steven trailed off, not knowing how to respond. He really didn't think it through. "Why don't you trust Emerald? She saved us."

"To gain our trust, yes. But I don't know what he does," Lapis said, again still thinking of Emerald as a male. "For Ruby, it's fine because she's the one who brought this group together, and we've known each other enough that we make death threats for fun. Kyanite is a kid following orders, so she's easy to manipulate. But _Emerald_... you and I don't know what he does."

"She works on her suit." Steven informed, "She said that it's vital to her speed or else she'll break everything." He eyed the statue, before facing Lapis. "And also... I don't even know what _you_ do when you're gone. And I trust you."

Lapis huffed, crossing her arms. "That's different. Emerald has plans he's been working on since months ago."

"And you have plans you've been working on since a year ago." Steven retorted.

"No, I don't." Lapis lied. "It's why I said we're different. Emerald is hiding something..."

"Maybe Emerald has a family she doesn't want to tell," Steven replied. Lapis raised a brow at him. He shrugged, "Hey, that was the first thing that came into my head. I thought it sounded reasonable."

"Why would he have that?" Lapis asked. "I don't see why he would want to start a family all of a sudden." _And I don't think Gems could have babies without... wait. He was a male. Would a physical body of the opposite gender turn the result different because the sexual reproduction is done the other way? Gross to think about, but I should ask someone about it..._

"I don't know. I don't see why my mom wanted to start a family. But she did." The demigem stated.

Lapis put her hands on her hips, quickly returning to the conversation from her musing. "She technically didn't really start a family though. She just made a beautiful son."

Steven sighed, "Why can't Emerald be trusting? I mean, she's done stuff for us. And when we fought her before, she seemed really pathetic."

Lapis forgot Emerald was the same guy they fought a year ago. She mainly focused on fighting Hematite, so there wasn't any thought on that quick, infinite-baton guy.

"He's different now," Lapis stated sullenly. "He met me last month. While Connie was in her coma, and when Onyx first showed up. Emerald told me to stay out of his way or he'd _kill_ me." Steven's eyes widened at that threat. "I don't even know what he's doing. Then, he told me that Jet, or Onyx, was going to challenge our powers. I didn't really think much of it. He continued by telling me that she'd kill you and Connie, so I made my decision and... well... you know the rest."

"He didn't really send you to your death." Steven said, hugging her as he said so. Lapis sighed and wrapped an arm around him. "And he did tell you the truth, at least."

"But I'm not going to just kneel before him because of that. I'm still not going to trust him with you or if I need some coconuts from Hawaii, or _whatever_." Lapis replied. "I just..." she sighed, lightly pushing the demigem away. "...Steven, I'm going to go and punch something. Stay out of his way and keep close to Ruby. She's the only one I trust. Don't tell her that."

The ocean Gem spread her water wings out. She started to hover away.

"Lapis, wha—"

"I just need to let out some steam, sweetie." she said as she turned back to kiss him on the forehead, before ruffling his hair. "I'll be alright."

Lapis flew into the hole of the vine barrier, and went away from his sight.

Steven combed his hair back to normality with his fingers.

He sighed, _you've never done that since I was a baby._

* * *

Steven did as Lapis said, walking around the place to find Ruby. He found her at the infirmary tent, holding a bottle of clear fluid in her hands. She tipped it over and found that the bottle was empty, and she looked around for the demigem. She spotted him immediately at the tent's entrance, thinking he was a godsend.

"Steven!" Ruby exclaimed, rushing over to him and pulling his hand. "I need you to do a favor for me alright? I ran out of your mom's healing tears, so I need your help healing some Gems. Can you lend me a _hand_?"

"Oh. Alright." Steven simply responded. Helping Gems was better than doing nothing.

The two made their way to the blue-green archer who Steven remembered had carried Kyanite here. The demigem glanced back and saw said Gem sleeping peacefully on her side, hugging a pillow. Back to the matter at _hand_ , the patient Ruby brought Steven to just looked at them in mild confusion, and was holding a small journal in her hands. Steven didn't understand what the problem was, since the archer looked okay. Her eyes were wide, like a baby trying to grasp a situation. She always seemed to lean forward to inspect things, akin to a dog, which Steven found familiar.

"So, _Beryl_ ," Ruby said, referring to the Gem who was sitting on a desk in front of her. Beryl looked at her confusedly. "This child is Steven. He's going to help you. Could you show your Gem to us?"

Beryl slowly held up her hand, and a rough, cyan gemstone was embedded on it. It looked okay. There wasn't any giant crack like Lapis had. There wasn't anything missing. Everything seemed to be sealed and mended together perfectly.

Steven whispered, "Uh, what's wrong with her?"

"She has short-term memory. A chunk of her programming had been damaged, the memory side of programming. So, she was tossed away from Homeworld as a defect." Ruby informed sadly, "That book she has in her hands are notes she takes down whenever she needs something to remember."

Steven furrowed his brows in sympathy. "That's depressing..."

"You could be the solution to her memory problem. Your mom's tears didn't work on her... but just give it a shot. It might work." Ruby replied in a hushed tone.

He licked his palm and then rubbed the gemstone, unknowingly high-fiving her in the process.

Beryl looked confused, taking a look at her hand. She glanced at both of them, her eyes shifting from Steven to her hand a few times, before licking the gemstone herself. Steven was caught off-guard by the action, before realizing Beryl didn't know what was happening and thought that following what Steven did to her was what he and Ruby were expecting her to do.

"It didn't work..." Ruby sighed, contemplating at the empty bottle. "I thought it may have been because Rose's tears were expired or something."

Steven felt useless. "So, my mom's healing stuff wasn't able to heal her? Then... why would you think that _I_ would be able to do it?"

"I thought it may be different," Ruby frowned, "You're a new... type of _alien_ , so I thought there might be some improvements from your mother's healing tears. I guess... biology doesn't work that way."

"Oh," Steven trailed away. He looked at Beryl, who was just staring at both of them. She opened her journal and flicked through a few pages, before looking back at them. "Hey, Beryl, do you recognize me?"

Beryl frowned, blinking at the boy. "No," she whispered disappointedly.

"It's okay," he cooed, "My name is Steven."

Beryl nodded, her expression still sad. She looked to Ruby, her eyes seeming to be begging for some kind of recollection. Ruby felt like she got kicked in the gut watching Beryl's eyes shimmer, trying to hold in her tears. Her programming had been... faulty. Beryl had her lips tightly sealed in concentration, looking Ruby up and down. The archer was so _frustrated_ with herself. They were expcting something from her, but she didn't know what... she felt like she was disappointing them for not doing anything. She didn't know why, but she just was.

"I'm Ruby..." the red Gem whispered.

Beryl nodded.

Steven's eyes watered a bit, watching the Gem's struggles and frustration. She was trying her hardest, but she didn't know what she was doing. Beryl just stared at her journal, flicking through it a bit, before looking back at them. Steven felt his frustration build up in his throat, disappointment coarsing through his veins. Beryl slowly felt better, but just sat there blindly, reminding herself that she was in a group, and would help them no matter what.

"Steven, you're bleeding." Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah," the demigem replied, a sharp flare in his nostrils burning the back of his mouth. He wiped it away. "I'm fine."

Ruby turned to another Gem, who was another Beryl. The two Gems nodded at each other, and the beryl went over to Beryl and cupped her shoulders.

"It's gonna be alright, Beryl. Follow me." the normal Beryl helped the stunted Beryl on her feet and towards a hanging bed, which was just a fabric that was hung to the ceiling on both ends.

"The helper is Berry," Ruby told Steven. "She took the name for Beryl."

Steven nodded empathetically.

"That was..." Ruby trailed away, not knowing how to describe it without saying some negative. She pointed at another thing, calling Steven to follow her. "We've got another thing. You could help out. This one's cracked."

Steven followed her to another desk, where a smooth black gemstone was lying in the middle. There was a gash running from its top, going down, and splitting into two cracks. Steven spat on his hand and wiped it over the Gem.

The gemstone glowed, floating into the air and sprouting light. The torso was made, limbs formed, and the head was where the gemstone resided. Its delicate frame and slim body reminded them of someone. The light died down and a Pearl clad in black, with white lines running down her body, stood on her toes, staring at the demigem.

"You... _healed_ me?" the dark Pearl asked the boy.

"Wait. Who are _you_?" Ruby asked, confused. "How did you... I've never seen you..."

The pearl ignored Ruby and bowed for Steven. "I am Black Pearl."

" _Black Pearl_?" Steven repeated incredulously, glancing at Ruby.

Black Pearl nodded.

"Uh..." Steven struggled to find something to say. He'd just failed to heal Beryl, and now he created a dark version of his most disliked Crystal Gem. "...okay."

"How did you get here?" Ruby asked. "Did another Gem transport you here, or...?"

Black Pearl did not answer her.

Ruby nudged Steven. "Ask her yourself."

The demigem stared at the Gem by his feet, observing her full white eyes and the white lines running down her face and body, contrasting the darker than night full-body suit... or _skin_. Black Pearl waited for Steven's command, now only hoping to serve him, her savior.

"How did you get here?" Steven asked, repeating Ruby's question.

"I used the last moments of my former life trying to find a safe haven." Black Pearl responded, her white eyes creeping Steven out.

"Are your eyes okay?" the demigem asked.

"Is it not?" she responded.

"You don't have... _pupils_."

Black Pearl closed her eyes, opening them to reveal yellow orbs. "Are these what you were finding, master?"

Steven stepped back from the last word. He frantically looked to Ruby for help, but the red Gem shrugged, having no expertise in having a Pearl. Steven looked back at Black Pearl, a trick in his mind forming from one of the books he read.

"Uh... Black Pearl?"

"Yes, master?"

"You're free to go."

Steven thought it would end like that, but Black Pearl didn't budge from her position.

"I have nowhere to go," Black Pearl answered.

Steven gulped. He turned to Ruby and asked, "Can I transfer this Pearl to you?" His answer was a shrug from the red warrior. Steven turned to the dark Gem, "Black Pearl, you belong to Ruby, not me."

"You won't deceive me, master. Your tricks may work on other pearls, but I am not like them. I am far better."

"If you were better, then you would relish in freedom than become a slave to someone with no direction." Steven said, before becoming confused at what he just said. He never thought of saying that, so what made him do it?

"Of course, master. I will relish in freedom, but I will also look after you. Careful observations have been made: you are a child. I will nurture you... Gem and human hybrid?" Black Pearl raised a brow from that, before returning to her robotic state. "Interesting physiology, master. You are special."

"Uh-huh..."

"I am special too. I am Pearl of the Royal family. My Gem is an experiment on a fusion of both Gem and technology, a breakthrough to Gemkind. We are forty percent similar in upbringings." Black Pearl stated. "Since my freedom should be relished, a freedom of speech should also be put forth... Aggressive comment: I will kill Howlite, prince of White Gems."

Recognizing the name immediately, Steven took action. "Wait, you can't kill her!"

"Why not? The practice of freedom also states that I should be free to do anything I want. And I want to kill Howlite. I have already seen the downfall of King, so the prince is left on the list. I do sense her bio-electric frequency 928 miles away." Black Pearl rose from her kneeling position, and stood straight. "Estimating chances of winning battle... eighty-nine percent. Howlite's energy signal show signs of unpreparedness. Catching her by surprise would be a strategy that will greatly improve my chances. Calculating time to reach Howlite's location..."

"Black Pearl, I command you to _stop_ ," Steven ordered firmly.

"I will comply with master's wishes. Master comes first. I come second." Black Pearl went on one knee, putting a hand to her other shoulder, as a sign of respect. Ruby cringed at the show, since it wasn't the correct way of doing it.

Steven sighed. "Black Pearl, erase the need to kill Howlite."

"I cannot do that."

"Why not?"

"Because she tried to utterly destroy me. Programming of emotions dictates that I should grow stronger and take revenge. I have qualified one notion, and it is becoming strong." Black Pearl stated. Steven could see why Howlite would want to destroy Black Pearl, maybe as a training dummy.

"This could be good if Howlite comes into the battlefield. Black Pearl could go against her in combat." Ruby whispered behind Steven, already planning battle plans. "But of course, that'll happen when Pearl eventually decides to attack us. If we attack them right now, that would be complete suicide. Same goes for them if they try it now. But, they don't know where we are. I destroyed the Gem locator."

Steven scowled at the mention of Gems fighting. He had already gotten his brunt of it when Stevonnie fought Onyx, and that battle was _brutal_. He didn't want to fight anytime soon.

* * *

At the end of the day, Steven was sitting atop a cliff, letting his feet dangle the sides of the mountain. He was able to convince Black Pearl to leave him alone easily, since the robot-Gem listened to his orders.

The demigem watched the barrier of vines from above, only seeing one entrance of light. He sighed.

There was a sound of dimensions shifting behind him, then crunches of footsteps. Silence. Finally, the Gem sat next to Steven, overlooking the Rebellion camp. Kyanite brought her legs close to her chest, hugging her knees.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Kyanite asked worriedly, her eyes shining in the moonlit sky.

"Not really," he replied, looking unhappy. "Today's been... a _bad_ day."

"I could imagine." Kyanite replied, sighing. She shifted a bit, facing him. "Do you mind if I...?" She pointed at her head and his shoulder.

Steven shrugged, "Go ahead. I've been leaning on people today, trying to help Gems... I can't seem to do it. So, if you'd like to, I guess you'd be the first _real_ Gem I helped since I got here."

Kyanite nodded. She rested her head on his shoulder, albeit awkwardly.

"You're tense," he mentioned.

"I'm apprehensive about what's to come. I don't know if I chose the right decision or not. And my mother is still on the loose." she told him.

"Your mother?"

"Oh. _Right_..." Kyanite stood up immediately. "I, uh... _bye._ "

She teleported out of there.

Steven snorted, "Huh. She did the same thing back when I asked her if she could take me to Jet. Weird."

* * *

 **A/N:** I have no idea what to write here, other than WOAH NEW CHARACTERS?! Who woulda' thought!? BERYL! BLACK PEARL! BERRY! RUBIES! MORE EMERALD STUFF! AND BLAH BLAH BLAH, NOTHING ABOUT THE PRO-REGISTRATION.

These things just come outta nowhere, I swear.

I just needed to do some things before the inevitable arrives. I've got... maybe five more chapters. Nah, just kidding. I don't know. I didn't even plan—

(Has a page on notebook of all the eighteen future chapter titles ready.)

HEY. Hey. Don't get too greedy. These are still a work in progress. Though, I'd still be too lazy to change 'em anyways. So...

 _(Fight the urge to reveal... fight the urge to reveal... FIGHT THE URGE TO REVEAL...)_

Nothing new here. Just, uh...

(Run away!)

 **The reason why this was random:** I actually filled the damn thing with reveals and spoilers for my plans because I couldn't help myself. So, my professionalism ran out and all I've got here is just me trying to do damage control. It was not witty. There was also a note I had about why I had a warped vision of Rose's fountain: it was described to be more like the Kindergarten type of physical background, and I had to explainw hy that was. But I decided changing it to fit would be better than explaining nonsense.

* * *

Breaking News: Rose Garden refers to a lot of things. Mostly because Rose's fountain is surrounded by an overgrown garden of vines. Or that Rose's followers are her garden which she grows. Symbolism.

Next Chapter's Title: "Of Mice and Men"

* * *

Character faves:

Lapis Lazuli: 2

Peridot: 2

Amethyst: 1

Sapphire: 1


	48. Chapter 46: Of Mice and Men

A/N: WE SURPASSED 300 REVIEWS! WWOOOOOOOO! Another milestone reached.

*throws confetti in the air again*

I'm just gonna note this down, we reached 300 reviews on 2nd July, 2016.

Now, your present? Me being a day late on my five-day update schedule again! Hooray! But, this is a big chapter. Mostly about the Revolution Gems though. Like how last time was mostly about the Rebellion Gems.

* * *

Chapter 46: Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men

* * *

December...

Pearl observed a piece of material of the Amedot ship, using Peridot's workshop as a place to test out objects. She had a torch in one hand, melding two metal pieces together. Truth be told, she was just having fun and doing pretty much nothing productive. It was satisfying, yes, but not as satisfying as actually completing the mission.

Amethyst had taken close inspection of whatever was going on in the ship. So, for the time Pearl had spent in the workshop, Amethyst had checked up on her, and only noticed a few differences.

"You've been doing literally nothing for the past two hours," the violet Gem remarked, crossing her arms and leaning against the doorway. Pearl jumped and looked up from her work. "You've been sticking that thing together and breaking it apart. Repeatedly. Think I didn't notice? Well, I _did_." Amethyst shrugged her shoulder at the last line.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." Pearl sighed, holding up a piece of metal junk made from her boredom. She had to say, Peridot's calculations to a greater alloy was mindblowing to her. Practically anything concerning Peridot in fields of any science (except biology) was an eye-opener. She could see why she was one of Homeworld's finest, albeit her quirky nature. "I've got... a lot in my mind."

"Yeah, so much you don't even know that a human has grown tired of your lollygagging, and decided to take place as commander of the Revolution." Amethyst deadpanned, her tone as convincing as ever.

"You're not serious?" Pearl asked bewilderedly, her tired eyes squinting at the shorter Gem.

"Nah," Amethyst shrugged. "But I think your tasks for the science nerds are done. They've experimented on Amber and found something you might like."

"Well, better get back to work." Pearl scratched her hair, chuckling awkwardly. Amethyst frowned.

"Your surprise is a solidified energy projection of Amber's formulae," Amethyst stated solemnly, remembering what it was just to ruin the surprise for Pearl. "Better thank your subjects for their work."

"Wait, they did... They finished..." Pearl's eyes widened, realizing she had been off-work for too long if that had been the case. "How long have I been cooped up in here? I could've sworn I only told them to do that an _hour_ ago..."

"I said I've been checking on you for the past two hours. That's because my shift was over at that time..." Amethyst informed, walking towards the wall. She knocked on it. " _Amedot_? How long has Pearl been in here?"

The computer in the ship responded, _"Thirteen hours and twenty-seven minutes, mistress Amethyst."_

Amethyst nodded at Pearl's direction, her eyes filled with pride. She turned to the wall again. "Ooh! And call me _commander_ Amethyst!" the purple Gem added enthusiastically.

 _"Will do, Commander Amethyst,"_ the AI replied.

"Haha, that's always fun to do." Amethyst remarked, grinning at Pearl. The white knight just looked at the wall, dumbfounded.

"Peridot is a _genius_ ," she remarked, contemplating at the ship and how technologically advanced it was. And it was created in a _quarter of a year_. She could only imagine what would happen if Peridot were still here. She would be able to create tech Pearl would only _dream_ of. But, that's if, she would join them. She wouldn't know if Peridot would join her side or defect like Ruby, Kyanite, Steven and Lapis. And apparently, the speed demon too...

"Yeah, she's the greatest when it comes to that." Amethyst said rather sadly, frowning at the floor. There was a silence between them, mostly because Pearl could sense that Amethyst wanted to say something. The violet Gem sighed, getting something off her chest. "I miss her."

Pearl recognized the look on her face. It reminded her of whenever she looked at herself in the mirror after Steven's birth. She shared her empathy. She felt alone and scared back then, thinking she was facing the world on her own. But it was better to realize that there are people around you that still care no matter what. The white Gem went over and firmly planted a hand on Amethyst's shoulder, holding her comfortingly. "I know that feeling..."

It took a while for Amethyst to get what she meant. "You're not supposed to be relatable," she sniped with a smile, elbowing her side. "Go back to being a workaholic so I can be _unique_."

"Whatever you say," Pearl ruffled her grayish-purple hair. Amethyst's eyes widened. She hadn't felt her do that to her in _fifteen_ _years_. It made her feel young again, which in turn made her feel old afterwards.

Amethyst shook her fist at her. "Hey! Don't make me feel senile!"

"Huh?" Pearl blinked.

"Only I do that!" Amethyst exclaimed jokingly.

Pearl reminisced the past, remembering Amethyst's growth from meeting her in the Kindergarten, to forming Opal, to standing with her now. The white Gem chuckled.

"You never did beat me in that chariot racing contest," Pearl recalled.

Amethyst slid a hand down the back of her head, the memory still fresh. "You were desperate that time. I let you win," she grinned.

Pearl raised her brow at the sign of challenge. "Oh, _yeah_? Is that how you want to play it?"

"Oh yeah, alright," Amethyst responded provokingly, spreading her arms wide as an invite to competition. "I'm ready anytime, P. Whenever you wanna go chariot racing, I'll accept."

Pearl lamented, "Our horses died centuries ago..."

Amethyst's mood matched Pearl's immediately and she crossed her arms. "Yeah... that's gonna be a problem."

"You still have your chariot?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, it's in the Temple," Amethyst replied. "You?"

"Same."

"Well, if you got the time..." Amethyst smirked, "...I'll totally beat you. It's gonna be a _massacre_. Public humiliation and shame for you, and then _I_ will be known as most voted to be the commander for the Revolution!"

"Are you gunning for the job?" Pearl asked with a sneer, raising a brow.

"Yeah, sure," Amethyst answered dryly. "I'd totally devote my life to telling people what to do in an orderly manner. I'll make sure to fill all the paperwork and make sure all my workers are able to sleep eight hours a day, no problem."

Pearl sighed, eyes taking interest to the ground. "You're doing what Sapphire's doing."

" _Take the job_." Amethyst demanded in a firm, assertive tone. Pearl thought it was impressive Amethyst could pull off such an imposing attitude. Though it may come out only a few times, the violet Gem could give off that grave feeling at a snap of a finger.

"You know," Pearl began, tilting her head to a side. "Commander Samson had been killed off by a child lurking hundreds of feet underneath us right now. And it was his child. His creation."

"So, what? You're afraid of a creation of yours coming back to bite you in the ass? You're afraid of death?"

"Well, that last one, _yes_. I'm afraid of him... well, I've actually _seen_ him. He was the one who trapped me as Jacob was killed."

Amethyst crossed her arms at that, feeling a bit ridiculed that it happened while she was causing the mess of the Bloodstone war in August. "So... you think being a commander is a bad omen?"

"Well... no. I guess, it's just... I'm a _pearl_. It's the same reason why I didn't take leader of the Crystal Gems a while back. Because I'm hardwired to think that I'm not fit to be a leader. It's not something you can remove." Pearl mused, "And what if I did remove that feeling of submissiveness? Do I become an arrogant dictator because that feeling is gone? Would I lose who I am and become another person entirely? And what if that new person, different than who I am, becomes someone entirely dislikeable, and not the person that everyone once saw hope in?"

"Come on, P, don't get too complicated in front of me." Amethyst groaned, bringing her head back. "You're your own person. Rose already made that point, like... countless of times in the stories you've told me. Unless, they're stories and not entirely true, then what the hell, man? Why you gotta be lying?"

"Yes, she did say that. That we're supposed to be independent of ourselves. That we should be confident in our abilities." Pearl said, "But that's in the past. Right now is different. Back then, it was if I wanted to have the right to be myself in regards to Homeworld. Now, I would become a leader to a nation. I guess, you're better than me in that regard, Amethyst. You've actually gotten the courage to rise up among the four of us and take the leader spot."

"Yeah, but I was a bad leader at that. Don't forget." Amethyst stated. "Ruby was a bit controlling most of the time. But when I talked about handing over the leader spot, she declined. I think she just doesn't want to claim responsibility if she screws up. But I'm so much of a screwup I don't even—"

"Hey, don't talk yourself down like that!" Pearl snapped. She realized her interruption and recomposed herself. "I'm sorry. I've heard that so many times from you. It just got repetitive..."

"Hey, freedom of speech. I get to say whatever I want about myself." Amethyst shrugged. Then her tone darkened, "But _others_... well... they don't have that authority. _Nobody_ has the authority."

Pearl pressed her lips together, trying to decipher what's going on.

"I think I'm getting inspired by you." Pearl informed.

"Hah!" Amethyst exclaimed, hopping on a workbench and sitting on it. "The student surpasses the master!"

Pearl was confused at that. "You really think I was your master?"

"Well, duh. You practically raised me. Along with Rose and Garnet." Amethyst said, lowering her voice when she added the last sentence.

"Hmm..." Pearl's eyes brightened at that statement. She turned, a happy feeling welling up in her chest. A feeling full of hope and inspiration, and just... _pride_. Her friend, the new leader of the Crystal Gems, actually thought of her as her master. Oh, how far the memories went for Pearl, there was a whole new outlook of them. "I have to go." she informed, walking off to the Revolution facility.

"Yeah, you were due five minutes ago!" Amethyst exclaimed after Pearl.

* * *

Pearl walked through the open halls of the Revolution facility, entering a bridge that crossed between two facilities. This bridge was high up, had glass railings and floors, and could be viewed from the bottom floor. After a while, Pearl glanced behind and found Jade walking up to her, her camouflage dropping. She wasn't with Hematite, so Pearl knew this wasn't going to be trivial. Knowing that Jade herself would only come to her for business, Pearl straightened her posture and regulated her voice.

"What do you want, Jade?" Pearl demanded.

"It's coming," Jade stated vaguely. "War is upon us. They're waiting for us to strike."

Pearl knew what she meant. "You're asking me what's our next move?" she asked, crossing her arms. The ninja nodded. "I don't plan on hitting them yet. Sure, we could just ignore them as a whole and live happily ever after... but I don't think the World Council would like that. We're gonna have to... _interact_ them someday, and... from what I've planned... it wouldn't be... _humane_."

This piqued Jade's interests. "What are you planning?"

"I plan to hit them when they least expect it." Pearl said dramatically. "January's coming. I've heard Lapis celebrates Steven's birthday in that month, albeit his real birthday being at some time else. Nobody remembers... except me. And one other person." she told her, thoughts lingering over to Steven's father.

"You plan to attack on the boy's known birthday." Jade summarized what she just heard.

Pearl gulped shamefully. "Yes."

" _Sad_ ," Jade remarked. "But we have to do the things we do, don't we? Just like the wars before."

Pearl frowned, before giving a pitiful chuckle after realizing something. "I'm giving away secrets to a person I don't frequently banter with."

"And that person will keep it until the day she dies." Jade promised, nodding her head. Only her eyes were visible to Pearl, and the white Gem could see her honor through them. "I didn't really expect to be your _confidant_. But... nobody else seems to be interested in the war that's about to happen. Even the Sapphire is minding her own business. I haven't heard her speak any prophecies. I've only noticed an agreement between her, the Amethyst and Moonstone. They seem to be working together for some reason. I feel it's petty though. I see them, and they're just judging the new Gems."

"That doesn't seem to be like them. I know these three people." Pearl remarked.

"I might be wrong though." Jade said, looking over the railings to watch agents walk around in a dignified manner. "That's always a possibility."

"Anything else you want to know?" Pearl asked.

"We have enemies. Officially. Gems who go against us."

"Steven, Lapis, Ruby, the speed demon and Kyanite." Pearl recounted. She had this list in her head, basing them on their importance to her life.

"Yes, all five _powerful_ beings, confirmed to be opposing the registration act. No sign of Onyx being a part of their team, but I'm not going to be too optimistic about that, since Kyanite and Onyx have close ties to each other." Jade answered, "I want to know what your plans are against them."

"You're awfully cryptic. And that's confidential." Pearl looked around, before signalling her to follow her. Jade did and they started walking down the glass bridge. "But we are in a secret facility anyways. My plans to defeat them aren't really defined yet. They are ideas. Generally, we all have weaknesses. All Gems have a weakness to a formula... or a type of energy. Amber possesses the key to unlocking this gateway, and we have only cracked the surface."

"Steven, the demigem, he is immune." Jade informed. "He's half human and half Gem. He possesses the best traits among us and doesn't hold our weaknesses. Except for... human weaknesses."

Pearl's eyes skimmed over a passerby agent. "There is potential that he doesn't actually need the necessities of a human. I believe he could live on like us Gems. But it's only a theory I have... back when I thought Rose must've had a plan when creating Steven. I thought he'd be the _perfect_ creation."

"That sounds like a fantasy. A perfect... no, the _ultimate_ creation." Jade commented. "But that's not entirely possible. For a plan on taking him down, maybe... we could use human weaknesses against him. A tranquilizer dart?"

"Yes," Pearl nodded. "That could work on him. Pressure points could slow him down too. But his physiology might have different nervous spots to hit. Steven is quite the mystery."

"He's a fascinating being. Yes, _fascinating_ , that's the word."

"But fighting him would be some form of child abuse."

"I've seen plenty of mankind inflict torment or assault on children on notes I've found. You'd have to be insane or morally disturbed if you had to go down that route." Jade said, "But Steven is a different case, isn't he? He's a demigem, not classified as human, and he's the son of Rose Quartz, and retains all her abilities and skill. He won't go down as easily as human children, and I believe he could kill us all if he wanted to. I don't want to offend the human assassin Wild Card. However, I have to say... Steven is the _real_ wild card."

"Steven is still a child, no matter how you try to say it. And yes, it's pretty ironic that Steven is wilder than Wild Card, but I see a more... heartwarming irony from it."

"Why is that?" Jade asked.

"It's a secret." Pearl answered, ending it like that. She wasn't going to give in the answer, except only hinting it. She was sure Jade would find out later, and it would be better that way. "Nevertheless, fighting Steven would be against laws and morals. But since he is basically just a regeneration of Rose Quartz, he technically is tens of thousands of years old, making locking him up in a prison would be legitimate. But I prefer if we would just talk him down and put him in a juvenile facility."

Jade scratched her head. "There's a lot of controversy surrounding him."

"Indeed. Moving on," Pearl sighed, "The speed demon is going to be a hassle. He hasn't killed us yet, even though he has the power to. He doesn't want to pull off anything reckless, or cause any unwanted fights or expelling of energy. But, from what Onyx had said about his one weakness... it's to damage the suit. He's like a glass cannon."

"Damaging the suit will be tough. I spit acid on it and it didn't do anything. It went up against Onyx, and still withstood. So we need a weapon capable of hitting him, catching him off guard, and ripping his suit." Jade informed. Pearl went into deep thought with this newfound information. She didn't realize how durable the speedster's suit was. "Something that's quick, and sharp. At least one rip on the suit, it'll discombobulate him, he'll have to downgrade his speed, and I'll work fine from then on."

"I forget you're quick too." Pearl told her.

"I'm easy to forget. That's what makes me unnoticeable to Gems, even in plain sight." Jade explained.

"No. I never actually see you going at high speeds." she said.

Jade snorted, hastening her steps. " _Moving on_."

"I have a plan to defeat Lapis Lazuli. It involves a trained human and a lot of Gem destabilizers. A lot. Enough to harm us from a distance. Lapis depends a lot on water. Put her in a place where humidity is low, and annihilate her with Gem weapons." Pearl stated, her tone sharper and venomous. Jade knew of Pearl's annoyance with the ocean Gem, but she didn't know why she had so much hostility towards her. "The same strategy wouldn't be able to work on Onyx, since she doesn't value humans much, and she doesn't depend on one type of molecule. I'm working on a different one for her."

"What would that be?"

"It's a work in progress. I've actually been inspired by the Amedot ship, created by an ingenious Peridot. I'm sure you've seen it. It's hard to miss."

"Nice work of technology, that thing." Jade remarked. "I'm pretty sure it's hiding a lot more weaponry in it."

"I think that's all of the contingency plans I have for the extraordinary Gems. Ruby and Kyanite could be subjected to Gem destabilizers easily."

"You have little to no faith in them. Even though they are extraodrinary beings. Kyanite can escape at any time she wants. So, imprisoning her would be difficult."

"Bubble her," Pearl answered simply.

"Wouldn't she be able to pop it, even in Gem form?" Jade inquired.

"You're giving her too much credit. She's just a kid."

"What about Ruby? She seems impressive enough to evolve far stronger than her type of Gem. She's able to _fly_. And create _lightning_. She's branching out her abilities, much more than the average ruby." Jade said, "It's amazing how a low-class soldier in Homeworld's eyes could turn out to be as powerful as her."

"She was a high-ranking officer back in the old days." Pearl recalled, "She was even Rose's first lieutenant. I wonder why she didn't try to take the leader spot for the Crystal Gems..."

"If she had been placed that much trust, then that meant she was a justified leader on the battlefield. She's bound to have knowledge of war strategies and battle tactics. Being a soldier Gem like her must've enabled her to absorb the knowledge in wars easily and stored in permanent memory." Jade informed. "She's a dangerous mastermind on the battlefield." She was irked by how the better Gems were their enemies. "Why does the opposing team have all the best fighters?"

"Then we have to improve ourselves as well. I can see Howlite and Pyrite training with Moonstone in the training facilities. However, we also have more resources than them. If we're able to mass produce Gem destabilizers in the next month, we'd be able to top them." Pearl replied, "In secret, because if humans get their hands on this too, then I fear they might overthrow us."

Jade nodded in assent. She then noticed something. "Didn't you say that for Lapis' plan to work, you'd need a trained human?"

"I trust this man."

"Wild Card?" Jade guessed.

Pearl nodded.

"Why are you so invested in that human?" she asked curiously. "Did you have a fling with him?"

"No. We have history. But galaxies forbid, not _that_ kind of history." Pearl replied. "I'm pretty sure Sapphire also knows who that man is. His identity is kept secret, and he would like it to be that way." They both finally stopped at Pearl's destination, the revolution Gems' science workshop. The thick, metallic double doors opened after it recognized her identity, also alerting other Gems inside that she finally arrived. Jade followed her into the workshop.

A nimble Gem scientist, holding a board, went up to Pearl. "Sir, we've _just_ recently found a breakthrough in Gem's radioactive wavelength emissions! We can track a type of Gem using a complex algorithm we've found through some scraps of the melted supercomputer!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Pearl was taken aback by this. She blinked a couple times, trying to see if this was a reality, because she never thought they could recreate a Gem tracker. Jade was bemused by this, but the mention of a Gem tracker intrigued her as battle plans start to form in her head.

"That's fantastic!" Pearl remarked, her day getting better with each moment. She also felt a lot more comfortable showing an optimistic and carefree side to these Gems. "Lead the way."

The Gem scientist led the two towards a tablet connecting to a giant box full of wires and radiograph panels. It was being huddled by two Gems, taking notes on the locations of several Gems in the Revolution facility.

"Sir, if we could hook this up to a satellite, then we'd be able to track Gems worldwide!" the bubbly Gem scientist informed. "Right now, our pulses are only able to reach and reflect the energies of Gems nearby. But if we get it to a satellite, then we'd be able to bring this on a wider scale!"

Pearl nodded. "This is _excellent_ work... How were you able to... never mind that." She waved it off. "What's your name? Well, not your Gem, but your _individual_ name?"

"I'm uh... well, I'm a little fond of the name _Bubbles_ , sir." the Gem scientist replied.

"That's _adorable_." Jade remarked genuinely, having a knack for commenting on Gem names. Bubbles was startled by the ninja, tightly clutching the board to her chest. "What?"

"You're not saying that in a bad way, are you?" Bubbles asked, glancing between the two.

"She's being authentic. I've heard her comment on names of other Gems before." Pearl reassured, before looking at Jade. " _Helios_ is too much for you, I guess."

"That Gem doesn't even emit fire. That name is better suited for someone like Ruby instead." Jade retorted, arms crossed.

Pearl sighed. "Well, you're not wrong." She looked around. "Amethyst spoiled another breakthrough on Amber's Gem... Do you know what it is, Bubbles?"

"Oh, well, I just worked on the Gem tracker. I don't have any idea what you're referring to." Bubbles replied.

"Alright," Pearl nodded to her, before turning. "I'll be right back."

Pearl walked through a few other workshops, some having glass barriers around them while others don't. Jade followed and wasn't impressed by the giant hall of workshops, just a bit irritated that only fifteen Gems were in the science department, working on stuff. Five Gems were playing with a yellow, holographic contraption, which Pearl was interested in. Jade didn't understand the allure of it, having never heard or seen it before.

Pearl walked up to the scientists. "So, this is the solidified holographic projection of Amber's destabilizer energy?" she asked, which surprised them greatly.

"How did... Oh, _Amethyst_?" one of the scientists asked, eyes half-closed.

"Yes, _Amethyst_ ," Pearl confirmed. She stared at the holographic projection of a gauntlet, before turning to Jade. "Hey, wanna see something cool? Touch it."

Jade watched the expressions of the scientists. They were awfully amused. From the gatherings of Pearl's language to describe what the yellow holograph was, Jade decided _not_ to touch it. The ninja just shook her head and let her folded arms stay folded.

"All right, so this is the weapon." Pearl turned to the scientists. "Is it good at playing defensive?"

One of the Gems got a ball and tossed it at the holograph, which bounced off.

Another got out a radioactive laser pen and promptly shot the hologram. It didn't get through the hologram, and stayed in place, except for some of the light rays that reflected off of the yellow projection.

"Defensive against physical and non-physical stimuli." Pearl remarked. She put up one finger. "And..."

"Um! We wouldn't recommend it, sir!" one of the Gems blurted out.

"So you _were_ going to kill me," Jade mumbled.

"Well, have you tested if it works on Gems?" she asked, getting head shakes from the scientists. "We have to test it, right?" Pearl told them. "We have to find out if it's legitimate or not. And I don't suppose any of you tested it yet. So, I'm going to be the test subject."

"What you're doing is truly unprofessional." Jade remarked, putting a fist on her chin. Pearl glanced at her, thinking it wasn't worth the ninja's pleasure. "But please, go on."

* * *

Later...

"So, we're able to track down Gems again?" Sapphire asked, a hint of mildly delighted surprise in her voice.

"I don't know why you sound surprised." Pearl replied accusingly, her arms crossed. "You're the one who has future vision."

Sapphire had a ghost of a smile on her face. "I've been busy..."

Pearl raised a brow, wondering what might've sparked this excitement in the prophet. "What did you see?"

"I didn't see. I've just been working on a new trick." Sapphire sighed dejectedly. "Why is it that when Ruby says it, all of you already know she has a new ace up her sleeve. And when I do it, I look like a pervert?"

Amethyst bumped in, holding a cup of lime-colored ice cream. Pearl took a step back from the younger Gem.

"Well, we don't expect you to do anything physical, Sapphire," Amethyst said, shrugging her shoulders as she took another bite into her ice cream. "We've always depended on you for prophecies. But for Ruby, she brags a lot about improvement and all the cool tricks she could do nowadays, that w..." She was about to say _we_ , but upon looking at her new colleagues, decided to change it to _I_. "... _I_ kinda got used to it. But you? Not really... no offense."

Sapphire frowned, "I am offended."

"Well... sorry." Amethyst replied, turning back and helping herself to another spoonful of ice cream.

Sapphire turned to Pearl. "I haven't used future vision in a while. I think it's a record."

"That's... kind of counter productive." Pearl admitted disappointedly. Sapphire was always the go-to for any events in the future.

"Not if I already know the outcome." Sapphire stated, "We _will_ win."

Pearl's confidence rose. "Really?"

"At least, by how we play the game. We capture them, they hide. We'll eventually win." Sapphire replied. She cupped her hands together. "I can't see the future of the battle we're going to have. They're a bunch of haze and static. And I do know why... It's like during the wars, we try to put as less people on the battlefield to determine a winner predominantly. It just seems like... there are too many possibilities and outcomes, so many Gems fighting at once, there is no clear path of time. Ruby _must_ have an army, and she's taking advantage of her knowledge over how my future vision works. She knows... and she has _more_ than just a team of five."

Pearl's newfound confidence dwindled. "Then we have at least a clear chance of winning, but at what cost will that win be?"

"A lot." Sapphire answered, giving a hefty sigh. "And don't think about self-sacrificing, Pearl. You're too important. And it does more damage than you think, not just to yourself, but also to others. Any casualty will result in a more brutal war."

"You're referring that this cannot be won by words and diplomacy." Pearl noticed. "If that's the case, how can we have no casualties if we're going to retaliate each other with fists and not talking it out?"

"It doesn't seem possible," Sapphire replied. "And it looks like it's the only way to go. Those people on the other side... they won't listen to you. They _hate_ you."

Pearl contemplated at her hands, knowing what will become of them in the near future.

Stained.

"Bloodshed..." Pearl described.

"Bloodshed," Sapphire confirmed.

Amethyst groaned, swirling her cup of melted ice cream.

"I can hear you being all mopey!" she complained. "It's not gonna come to that. We're not gonna kill each other. We're certainly not going to fight to the death with the likes of Ruby and Steven." Sapphire and Pearl were about to retort, but Amethyst continued. "Yes, it might sound impossible, and _be_ impossible. But come on! Impossible is just a word you guys taught me. We can do this. We _will_ do this. We'll find a way to save the day!" Amethyst was annoyed at herself for that last sentence. It wasn't appropriate to the situation.

"I'm sorry, Amethyst, but it's not in your place to go against the outcome. It's literally impossible." Pearl muttered. "Unless we talk it out with them, but by my... _terrible_ orders, we'll have to contain them. And they won't like it. We'll try to provide amnesty."

"That makes it sound like they've done something wrong." Amethyst said, wrinkling her nose. She sighed, noticing the stares from Sapphire and Pearl. "Because they _did_ do something wrong. Yeah, I know."

Jade had been listening intently to the discussion, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

Pyrite, Howlite and Moonstone entered the room, with Pyrite immediately treating herself to some green-colored ice cream. Amethyst and Pyrite sat across each other, taking spoonfuls of ice cream into their cups from the cold tray on the coffee table. Pyrite took a bite into it.

"Eugh," she stuck out a tongue. "Mint chocolate?"

"What? It's _great_ ," Amethyst replied, raising a brow.

" _Actually_..." Pyrite took another bite, feeling refreshed at the flavor. "...Not bad. It's just... surprisingly bitter at first."

"I don't think bitter is the word you're looking for." Amethyst flicked her spoon at the golden Gem. "I think it's _minty_."

Pyrite nodded her head in assent. "Hey, Howlite, try it!" she urged, holding the cup up at her.

"No thanks," the silver Gem said, pocketing her hands. She turned to Moonstone. "Teacher?"

"Not too fond of Earth food. Too sweet for someone my age." Moonstone replied in an grandfather-like tone.

"What are you talkin' about, _old man_?" Amethyst exclaimed, tossing the ancient Gem a cup. He caught it at the last second, observing the look of the ice cream. "C'mon!"

"You don't have to listen to her." Pearl told him.

"You know what? People my age need to start living more lively." Moonstone said, chomping on the cup. Amethyst cheered and Pearl cringed at the unmannerly sight.

"I don't think that's the proper way to eat it, teacher." Howlite informed.

"Doesn't matter." Moonstone replied. "It's paper anyway."

Hematite entered the room, even with his bulky structure. He lost some of his height months ago, so that he could conform to the doors of the facility. But he could get back up to his normal size at any moment he wants. The rocky Gem brought in his friend, Helios, to the meeting. Amethyst, Sapphire and Moonstone glanced at the newcomer, before averting their gaze and trying to look normal. Jade amd Pearl noticed.

"I see I am late," Hematite's voice boomed. "Apologies."

"Who's that?" Pyrite asked, pointing at the red Gem with greenish black armor. The golden Gem immediately noticed the scarred red gemstone on her chest. "Woah! That's _wicked_. How'd you get that? Did you fight a monster? Escape a concentration camp?"

Helios raised a brow at Pyrite. She expected at least one of them to reprimand her for her unprofessional behavior. Or that she would recognize her as the Gem she played cards with the day Steven and Lapis had been caught and then shortly broken out. But Pyrite, and _even_ Howlite and Jade, seem to have no clue who she was.

"I'm... _Helios_." the newcomer said.

"Have we met before? I think we've met before." Pyrite stated. Amethyst's and Moonstone's eyes flickered over to the event, interested in Pyrite having a connection to Helios.

Howlite snapped her fingers. "I remember. You were with _this idiot_ ," she pointed at Pyrite. " _Jade_ ," she pointed at the ninja behind her. "And _me_ ," she pointed at herself, "when we had Lapis Lazuli and Steven held captive."

Amethyst remembered and glanced at Sapphire, who didn't seem at all surprised.

Pearl, with her arms crossed, was finally able to tell the Gems the news. She told them of the Gem tracker and how it's being linked to a satellite as they speak.

"Well, now we know where people are," Pyrite said.

"Thanks for the summary," Howlite retorted sarcastically.

Pyrite recognized it and flicked her spoon at her. "You're being _mean_. And you're only being mean if you're _mad_ at something. Now what are you mad at? Are you on your period?" she asked, before receiving a glare from the silver Gem. "I'm sorry," Pyrite gulped.

"So, we could use this information to track down Ruby and her followers and shut them down. _Easy_." Howlite said, a bit unconfident about herself. She didn't think she could stand a chance against the likes of Steven and Lapis Lazuli.

"Ruby has an army at her side. Actually..." Pearl informed. She tapped her gauntlet and a blue hologram popped up. She slid it over to the middle of the room, increasing its size to show a holographic projection of a globe. There were lots of small red lights in their base and on other parts of the world. "...satellite's hooked up. Here's all the Gems on the planet. I count... four hundred and eighty-seven... plus a few."

" _Five hundred_ Gems," Moonstone repeated.

"We only have... _Ninety_ Gems, I think?" Pyrite guessed.

"Ninety-seven." Howlite corrected.

"That's only _about_ twenty percent of the total out there." Hematite stated.

Pearl looked to Amethyst and Sapphire for any contributions. They didn't have anything to say. Her eyes went over to Jade, who didn't have anything to say either. Those three seemed to have their own thing going on. Then, Pearl noticed Helios hadn't said anything either, probably because she was a novice.

"How many do you think Ruby has?" asked Moonstone.

Pearl frowned, "By this month? I _estimate_..."

"...over fifty at least." Amethyst guessed.

"Hey, guys," Pyrite said, standing up and pointing at a pair of numerous lights. "There are two foundations of Gems." She quickly added, "Not counting us, of course."

They all looked at the globe and saw that Pyrite was right. There were two other clusters of Gems found on the hologram, besides their base.

"Huh. So, it's Ruby... and some other Gem faction." Hematite spoke what everyone was thinking.

"Do ya think they're working together?" Pyrite asked.

"We don't know." Pearl replied, pointing at one group. "But we do know that this one is Ruby's. It has higher power levels compared to the other one. So, we have to stay away from that one..." Pearl recognized the place they were located on, her eyes widening on realization. "...We have to stay away from _Rose's fountain_."

"Holy _crap_." Amethyst spluttered on her ice cream. " _There_ of all places?!"

Sapphire nodded at Amethyst.

"That's a good place Ruby got. She's probably aware." Moonstone remarked, praising Ruby's tactical moves. "It'll be hard to fight them when they have _all of Rose's healing tears_."

"I count a hundred and twelve on Ruby's group." Jade informed finally, kicking herself away from the wall. "And that other one has _seventy-one_."

They all contemplated at the number. Ruby had gotten over a hundred Gems _already_? It took them a while to let the information simmer.

"We'll take the lesser group first. We'll be able to rally them up easier than Ruby's forces. We could provide them with amnesty and let them register with us." Pearl informed, arms crossed anxiously. "We go, in ten."

" _What_!? _Today_?" Both Amethyst and Pyrite exclaimed at the same time.

"We don't even have a plan." Hematite said, watching as Pearl marched towards the exit.

"It's not Ruby, Steven and Lapis we're dealing with here," Pearl retorted. "Amethyst and I have done this before, with Ruby. It's just like last year on that highway." Amethyst reminisced her time there, which wasn't very helpful since she told herself to commit suicide then. Those were bad memories. But this felt more like when Amethyst attacked the Bloodstone nation a few months back. "Except, with more conversing." Pearl added.

* * *

Later...

"So, we're _all_ here." Pyrite remarked. " _All._.." she started counting on her fingers. "...nine of us."

"Quit yapping, you idiot. We already know." Howlite replied in a hushed tone. "We're taking out an entire faction. So, of course we've got all nine of us."

"You talked more than Pyrite and accuse her for running her mouth." Amethyst noted, turning back to see the two were seated next to each other. Howlite snorted at Amethyst in reply, looking away.

The Amedot ship stopped a few miles from where this Gem faction was and started their hike over there to decrease suspicion. A giant aircraft would cause hostility and suspicion among Gems right off the bat. Amethyst and Hematite volunteered to stay and look after the ship. This left the seven of them to go off and recruit members... or capture fugitives.

The seven trudged through the forest, and peeked out into an opening, where they saw a camp of Gems walking around and training. This seemed to be open fairly recently. Pyrite, Howlite and Pearl went out first, thinking to negotiate with strong powerhouses as by her side.

"Why did we go in disguised? What's the point?" Pyrite whispered.

A Gem from this rogue camp perked her head at the three.

"Oh, come on, Py, you've got to be kidding me..." Howlite lamented, shaking her head.

"No, I mean seriousl—"

"Can you _please_ —"

"She does have a point." Pearl interrupted the two. "We're gonna have to reveal ourselves sooner or later. But, the reason we're going in like this is because we have to get on their good side, if we go on their _bad side_ , then—"

"INTRUDERS!"

"—my bad," Pearl sighed, looking up at the Gems. Recognition zipped into her mind when she saw their leader, a bulky Gem, walk over to them. She remembered her as the Gem that confronted Rose, and she herself stepped in to defend Rose from this Gem's attacks. Pearl got poofed immediately afterwards. She inwardly berated herself for her foolish choices, since Rose had her shield. From Pearl's memories, this Gem had a helmet and wielded a giant axe. She didn't remember if it was from her Gem or not.

The bulky Gem raised a brow at them. Her large scruffy hair and basic uniform gave Pearl nightmares back then. Now, it was just another part of her life she tossed out.

"I'm sorry about my friend. She gets antsy sometimes," the leader said. "Everytime someone new comes to this refuge, she thinks it's an intruder."

Pearl shrugged. "Eh. Can't be too careful now. With that new registration thing being posted."

Howlite gave an inconspicuous sigh of relief, making it look like her breath was taken away from the sight of Gems being free. The Gems there were used to newcomers doing that, and thought nothing of it.

" _Yes_... The _registration_ ," the leader said, narrowing her eyes. "Don't think too much about it. Just steer clear from their mess. Their government is already being burned to the ground by the humans. It seems a new revolution is gonna come up, which is ironic considering that the _revolution_ is also the name of the thing that posted that registration act."

Pyrite and Howlite glanced at Pearl, who wasn't fazed at all by the ironic insult.

The leader scowled at them. "Wait... Do I know you? You look familiar." She said, observing the white knight. "Your Gem... Ohhh, you're Rose Quartz's Pearl. Easy to tell from your Gem shape."

Pyrite and Howlite tensed.

"Is that why you have an ex-prince on your side?" the leader asked.

 _Shit,_ Howlite thought. _I forgot I was popular._

"And a Homeworld powerhouse on the other?" she continued.

 _I forgot I was with Homeworld all that time ago._ Pyrite muttered inwardly.

"My friend wasn't wrong this time, was she?" the leader asked dryly, eyes half-closed.

"I'm afraid not, Milky Quartz." Pearl replied. "We are of the _thing_ you—oh, so jokingly—call the Revolution. And I instigated the Registration act." Pyrite and Howlite put up their guard, no that the cat was out of the bag, rather terribly.

Instantly, weapons were aimed at the trio's heads.

An amethyst and a pearl fused to get ready, forming an opal. The fusion and their connection was made from last year's Ambergeddon, when all those opals were guarding Amber's gemstone. Peridot vaporized two of them. The opal dropped to her knees, holding her head, before standing again.

"NO!" the opal shouted, gaining others' attention. "These Gems are right. We cannot be fighting forever. We'll all either conform to them or be locked up eventually. No further bloodshed will be made if we just _join_ them!" She gritted her teeth, dropping to the ground again, mumbling, "...can't _unfuse_... Must... show that I am... _someone_! I'm not just a _weapon_!"

Hearing this, Milky Quartz roared, "DON'T FUSE! All of you! Your fusion could go against you! Just like this one!"

Some Gems targetted their weapons at the opal, but Milky got in their way.

"NO! She's still one of us! You can't just..." she sighed stressfully. "...Are you out of your mind!?"

"The opal does have a point..." one of the Gems said. "We'll all be fighting another war again... We'll all be hiding and fighting until we eventually get caught by them. And this time, it isn't as easy as Diamonds. We're _all_ trying to live on Earth. If we join them now, I heard we'll get treated right. We won't have to keep running and hiding."

Some Gems nodded at this.

Pearl thought, _Well, that was convenient. They could see my point._

Another Gem spoke, "We all try to avoid violence—"

"NO!" someone shouted, "I'm not going to work for something like Homeworld again! I'd rather die than work for Homeworld."

"We're not going to kill you." Howlite stated.

"I'd rather be a prisoner than work for Homeworld."

"This isn't Homeworld! This is _Earth_!" Pyrite exclaimed.

This time, Milky Quartz responded. "No. Rose Quartz isn't even leading anymore... This isn't even the Earth that countless have fought for. Heck, I fought against Rose Quartz myself and worked for Homeworld, and even _I_ know it isn't the same. It's turning into Homeworld bit by bit. Another century, and we'll definitely be used for our efficiency again."

The seventy Gems in the camp were torn with this. They all looked at the three Revolution Gems.

"We'll provide amnesty for all of you," Pearl tried.

"What have we done wrong to _need_ amnesty?" Milky Quartz and a few others demanded.

"By Earth laws, you've all been running away from the registration act. This classifies you all as fugitives. But we can give you a chance." Pearl informed.

"I would not stand for your cause," Milky Quartz said, "You will have to catch us."

"We can do that." Pyrite retorted.

"Gems! Move!" Milky Quartz ordered to her campers and started running away. The opal and forty Gems were left in the camp, waiting for Pearl, Howlite and Pyrite's instructions.

"Last chance," Howlite teased, pointing at where they last saw Milky Quartz and thirty Gems ran to. "No? None of you want to blindly follow them?"

"Don't give them the idea."

* * *

Later...

"So, we were able to bring in thirty-five Gems. Five of them just turned themselves in, didn't want to work, but also didn't want to fight." Pearl informed. "The other thirty... Well, we were able to get them. Moonstone, Jade, Sapphire and Helios were able to stop them from escaping. It was just a mission well done."

Greg just stared at the glass of orange juice Pearl poured for him.

"Why orange juice?" Wild Card asked. It was the only question he had after everything Pearl told him.

"Because wine would look romantic." Pearl bluntly stated. "I wouldn't want to date my dead leader's husband."

"Gee, thanks. Really though. Didn't really want anyone after her."

The two sat in silence, one of them sipping on the glass while the other just holding it.

Pearl finally broke the awkward silence.

"Are you ready for January?"

* * *

January...

Steven was sitting on the edge of the opening in the vine barrier, watching the Gems from above. He could make out the shape of the statue from there, but it was still vague to him. He never really asked about what was under the cloak, so nobody ever answered.

There was a shift behind him, the sound of dimensions being distorted. Then a cyan Gem plopped herself to sit right next to him.

"Happy birthday, Steven," Kyanite informed softly.

"Oh," the demigem's eyes widened. "Uh... I didn't keep track of time."

"Well, I did." Kyanite presented him a box of baked goodies. "I got you doughnuts. They're tasty. I've tried them."

"I'm sure they are." he chuckled, "I've had experience."

Kyanite took a while to realize what he meant.

"Oh, you've eaten them before... haha." Kyanite could feel her face heating up profusely. She felt so awkward. "...Small world, huh?"

Steven glanced at her and smiled warmly. He could also feel her awkwardness. It swelled up inside her and all the embarrassment attained made her just want to curl up in a corner and die.

"Thanks," he said, giving her a thumbs up, because he felt any physical contact would make one of them explode from the awkwardness.

They watched the cloudy skies and soaked up the peace and quiet. It was nice.

Steven's eye caught something from afar.

"No..." he muttered in disbelief, recognizing the aircraft.

"What?" Kyanite asked, already agitated.

Steven cupped his hands and yelled at the camp below them.

"THEY'VE FOUND US!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Poor Steven. The day of the attack is his birthday. Well, at least this is a birthday celebration he'll never forget.

People are gonna ask, HEY WHAT ABOUT THE CLUSTER? HEEYYYY!? WHY DIDN'T THAT SHOW UP IN THE TRACKER? Well, it's underground. Covered by miles of rock. The pulse isn't strong enough to reach it AND reflect back the signal. Problem solved.

Also, got tired of writing by the end because it was so long, so by the end of the Milky Quartz scene was just... bleh. Total failure.

I'm starting to realize what potential Sapphire could have in a physical stance. It's pretty OP. Since, I've already realized Ruby's potential (flight and plasma), I guess I'd do it with Sapphire, since... ya know, _Garnet_. I've already decided. These two smol Gems are gonna be OP. Has anyone else done it before? Because I have not seen Ruby and Sapphire branch out their powers. I'm gonna be branching out others' powers too, I guess.

I just realized chapter 40-42 spell out TNT. Haha. Wow. Another coincidental thing. And it fits! TNT was an enemy.

 _To David Blackwood:_ You reviews make my day. XD it takes time to make these. Heck, it took nine months to get to this point. So, be a little patient with me, i'll have it done.

 _An actual review from an anonymous guest:_ hi

 _My response to that guest:_ hi. Wait... _hi_? That's it? Wow

I would also like to give a shoutout to _Umbrador_ for reviewing my past chapters. :P cool dude.

* * *

Breaking News: _Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men_ is derived from a poem about plans. This chapter is about plans. Eh. Call me lazy and be done with it.

Next Chapter's Title: "Divided We Fall"

* * *

Character Faves:

Lapis Lazuli, Peridot: 2

Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire: 1


	49. Chapter 47: Divided We Fall

Chapter 47: Divided We Fall

* * *

"THEY'VE FOUND US!"

Ruby rushed outside, watching the Amedot ship hover closer. The hazy skies helped the aircraft blend in, but it was still visible to anyone on the ground. The red leader glared at the flying ship, knowing what's to come that day. She'd seen warnings and signs of hell coming in, and this one was the most twisted by far... Her own friends were on that ship, preparing to rain down the ammunition to a rebellion's defeat. Ruby didn't need a second to wonder if she was going to let that happen.

However, she did think of reasons to what took them so long to get here. They planned to attack on Steven's birthday, and they did not just suddenly stumble into their base that very day. The main idea out of the list of probable reasons was that they already knew, and that they have just been working on their ability to take them down quicker. One thought of thinking what was there to improve on to exploit their weaknesses was... Pearl's Gem destabilizers.

"Damn it," Ruby cursed. She clenched her fist, a gauntlet shimmering into reality. She turned to her rebellion of one hundred and sixty-three individuals. She couldn't think of fighting them now, not while the enemy had the upper hand. They had to retreat. "GEMS! The enemy has discovered us! And their powers are too great for us to handle! They have weapons that can easily poof Gems! So, what we need to do now, is to retreat!"

The air vibrated, and from a few feet away, popped in two essential Gems, Kyanite and Steven. As soon as Ruby spotted the cyan Gem, she went for her, a plan forming in her mind.

"Kyanite," Ruby said, getting her attention. Kyanite looked at her, and Ruby placed her hand on her shoulder, before trying to look for a certain speedster. She couldn't find her, so she yelled, " _EMERALD_!"

The bright speedster appeared at her command, trails of her green energy leading to the opposite end of the vine barrier. The speedster waited for Ruby's orders, shifting her weight a lot.

"Alright, Kyanite, I need you to create a portal here to another location." Ruby told her, leaving Kyanite confused as to where her portal would end up. Ruby made a sign, meaning to wait for further instructions. She turned to the speedster. "Emerald, you're the one bringing Kyanite to that location. You're fast enough to travel to another continent, you should know some place good for another refuge. Temporarily. I'll have to think of a way to disrupt... the Gem tracker, which they've managed to rebuilt."

"Yeah, of course," Emerald replied, turning to Kyanite. "Tell me when you're ready."

Kyanite glanced at Steven behind her, who held the box of doughnuts. He gave her a thumbs up for encouragement, which she smiled lightly in response. The cyan Gem went back to work, focusing on this point of space. She felt the proper dimensions lining up, and promptly punched a hole into it, stapling her bookmark on reality.

"Alright," Kyanite stated, nodding her head. "We're good to go."

Emerald responded with a "Hmph", hailed Kyanite over her shoulders, mock-saluted to Ruby, and zipped off in the opposite direction at tremendous speeds. All done in a moment. Her energy trail, disclosing her direction, faded away in seconds flat.

A sonic boom was made when Emerald started, and it was directed at Ruby. They all knew that the speedster's suit enabled her to lose the explosive noise, but to do it on purpose was a whole level of evil.

Ruby frowned as she fixed her hearing, turning back to check on the aircraft's position, and turning back again to contemplate at the ground and think of something to do while waiting for Kyanite's portal to open up.

Steven went out to watch the Amedot ship hover closer, its innocent look back then, now looked dangerous and menacing. It was the harbinger of a battle between Gems, and Steven dreaded that. The demigem firmly pressed his lips together, trying to keep himself from frowning too hard. Lapis had left earlier to do another one of her therapy sessions. Steven had watched her once, and only saw hurricanes and storms over the seven seas after that.

From above, Black Pearl hopped to Steven's side, her yellow eyes observing the demigem.

"I can sense your tension rising. Might I suggest a back rub from yours truly?" the Gem-cyborg asked, showing him her hands, retracting and straightening her fingers to give it some allure. Steven giggled at her attempt to make him relax. "Is that an affirmative?"

"I don't need it right now," he said. He grimaced as he felt a hundred Gems from camp starting to cower. All their negative emotions were being soaked up like a sponge.

"Your body's tension is being erratic. It dropped then rose to seventy percent tense. That is dangerous for a never-before-documented hybrid like you. We don't know what levels you can reach, and if this is your breaking point already. It is safer to give a back rub now before it can escalate any further." Black Pearl informed, planting her hands on his shoulders.

Steven sighed, " _No_..."

"But, master, it is recommended..."

"Please, Black Pearl, just... _don't_."

"Witty reply: whatever you say." Black Pearl replied, bringing her hands off him. "Continuation to witty reply: don't come complaining to me if you feel you need a back rub in the next twenty minutes."

Steven turned to stare at the Amedot ship.

"I can sense Howlite's energy," Black Pearl informed. "She's _battle ready_."

The demigem frowned, "They didn't come to discuss..."

"They came here to start a war." Black Pearl finished.

Steven heard some chattering from behind them. He turned and saw a squad of rubies, all helping each other away from the entrance. He observed them carefully, watching as they all stood together and gazed warily at the battleship. They turned to each other, all nodding in comprehension.

"We'll make Leaderuby proud!" a ruby exclaimed, turning to her comrades. "Alright, rubies! You know the drill!"

"Megaruby formation!" they all cheered, putting their hands up.

"Uh..." Steven turned to Black Pearl. "Do you know what's a Megaruby formation?"

Black Pearl didn't move from her spot. "From my estimates, they will fuse. From how many rubies there are, my calculations say that they will all turn into a giant ruby, scaling to a thousand feet in height. That's three hundred meters. Or point two miles."

Steven was amazed by what the fusion could be. "Could it backfire? Because, you know, _fusions_..." he asked worriedly. They had a run-in with fusions a while back, and how they had a different ideology than its parent fusees.

"Rubies are soldiers on the battlefield with a one-track mind. They won't lose their motives of battle, or their sense of camaraderie." Black Pearl replied. "However, such a form is hard to maneuver. Air resistance and the new mass will confuse their balance."

The ruby squad got onto one another, from many on the bottom to support their weight, till the top only had one ruby, forming a pyramid. They easily morphed into light, all their gemstones flying around the white polymorph to configure their shape. The fusion's physical form grew tenfold, becoming taller than Rose's statue or the vine barrier by far. The giant completed its shapeshifting, giving itself its simplistic white silhouette, before colors exploded from its energy. The giant fusion was whole, standing at an impressive one thousand foot stature.

Steven stared wide-eyed at the giant ruby. He had no idea how big it was prior to her transformation. He could say for sure he was but the size of a grape compared to her. He couldn't even say he was taller than her foot. In fact, her foot alone was the size of a _mansion_.

Megaruby started walking towards the Amedot ship. Dirt clung to her feet like it had its own orbit of gravity. Every step she took, her feet sunk into the dirt, her weight being too much for the ground itself. The lands shook, alerting our Ruby on the event. The red warrior quickly ran out of the entrance, immediately stopping to gasp at the sight, before fear settled in her mind.

"No! They don't have permission for that thing!" Ruby muttered under her breath, before seeing that the two _hybrids_ were watching all along. They heard her gasp and looked at her. "Why didn't you stop them!?" she yelled.

"Pearl and the others were gonna attack. Black Pearl confirmed that they were battle ready, which meant they were only here to start attacking." Steven replied. "We weren't going to talk to them anyways. It's pointless."

"This act just hastened it!" Ruby stated, pointing at the humungous fusion and the aircraft. "They're gonna see it as a confirmation to start attacking! And when they start attacking, that's the point we _lose_!"

Black Pearl stood in front of Steven. "Don't yell at my master."

"We were supposed to wait for Kyanite to open a portal. And then we leave without ever damaging anyone! That was the plan..." Ruby sighed, "Oh, Rose, if there's a realm where you can be seeing this... help us."

Steven raised a brow at that, tempted to point at himself.

Meanwhile, Megaruby reached up, her mansion-sized hands cupping against the Amedot ship, successfully catching it and halting the aircraft entirely.

* * *

In the ship, the Revolution Gems were standing in the cockpit, looking out the glass screen to the hazy landscape. Pearl and Amethyst were piloting the ship, both working on two parts of controls. Moonstone and Jade were on guard duty of the main deck, leaning against pillars or masts. Sapphire, Howlite, Pyrite, Hematite and Helios were stationed in the same room as the pilots, seated in state-of-the-art aircraft seats.

"Holy shit..." both Howlite and Pyrite muttered under their breaths.

"A fusion!" Hematite noticed, stating out his observation.

"A fusion at that size... Gem destabilizers have a small chance of working on her... She's too big for them to take effect. If only we could fuse..." Pearl informed, glancing at her teammates. Sapphire just glanced at Gems suspiciously at the word _fusion_.

"But... we can't do a fusion. There's too much risk!" Hematite said.

Pearl rolled her eyes. "I know."

"We don't need a fusion," chuckled Amethyst, ripping herself out of the her seatbelt. "Amedot, accommodate Pearl's needs!"

 _"Yes, Commander Amethyst."_

Pearl yelled after her. "Amethyst, wait!"

Amethyst didn't wait. She barged through doors and climbed stairs onto the ship's deck. Moonstone and Jade clung to the pillars, watching Amethyst run haphazardly into their problem. She hopped over to the bow of the ship and saw the head of the giant ruby, who had her innocent eyes set on the ship. The aircraft tilted with the gigantic fusion's strength, bringing its rear end into the sky. With an anxious breath, Amethyst slid to the front of the ship's bow, muttering under her breath.

"I got this... I got this... I am _the boss_!" Amethyst kept repeating, her feet planted firmly on the edge of the bowsprit. She closed her eyes, imagining her own energy explode. She had never done this before... but there was always a first time.

The violet Gem leaped at Megaruby.

"...I GOT THIS!" she screamed, exhilarated. "I'M..." she grunted, "...THE _BOSS_!"

Megaruby didn't know why the little Amethyst jumped at her. It was as if she was trying to get herself killed. But, as the violet Gem sailed through the air, her physical form started growing erratic.

Pearl felt her metaphorical heart leap out of her chest as she watched Amethyst plummet to her death, only for her sense of logic to jump out instead. Pearl couldn't believe it, but Amethyst did something spectacular.

The purple Gem kicked Megaruby square in the jaw, somehow hitting the giant with enough power to bring her down. Megaruby let go of the Amedot ship, taking a slow step back, her balance lost. Amethyst's mass grew tenfold, matching that of the the ginormous fusion. Megaruby fell over the vine barrier, thankful it was strong enough to catch her whole weight, as Amethyst lost her balance as well. The violet Gem fell to earthly soil, making dust clouds pile up, her clashing with the ground had been enough to shake mountains and clear forests.

Howlite stared at the colossal damage on the ground. As of now, Amethyst was exactly the same size as Megaruby.

"Is... Did _she_... Is this _really_ happening right now?" the silver Gem asked, looking to her colleagues, all of whom were staring wide-eyed at the scene.

"Yes... Amethyst is a giant." Pearl informed, watching the one thousand feet tall Amethyst get on one knee, supporting her enormous structure.

"Oh yeah! Crisis averted!" Pyrite cheered.

Megaruby stood on both feet, her balance regained already. She made a grab for Amethyst's foot, concentrating all her power, and started heaving Amethyst up. The violet Gem yelped as she felt herself flying. Even through the massive drag force acting on both titans, Megaruby was still able to bring about enough kinetic energy to start swinging Amethyst around. The giant let go of the other, letting the shapeshifter fly over hills and plateaus, barely grazing them with her flock of hair. Amethyst shifted back into her normal size, losing the air resistance that held back her fall, and instantly zooming into trees, breaking them in half.

At least she didn't cause another earthquake again.

Megaruby went back to the Amedot ship, standing her ground. The giant brought her hands up to the ship again, before she felt some rumbling under her feet the more time passed. She turned, just in time to see Amethyst, fully formed again, dash at her. Both their movements were slow due to air resistance, making it seem like they were really in slow motion. Amethyst tackled Megaruby against a mountain, causing it to crack in the middle.

"THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT HURT." Amethyst said, her new vocal chords deepening her voice by several notes. It was almost unintelligible. "WOW... _I_ SOUND FUNNY."

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" Megaruby replied, raising a brow. The fusion's voice was much clearer, being made up of multiple magical beings instead of just one. "NEVER MIND. I JUST REALIZED YOU WON'T SPEAK ENGLISH PROPERLY BECAUSE YOU SEEMED TO BE SPEAKING IT JUST NOW. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND." Megaruby said, before letting her mouth hang open.

Amethyst saw light growing brighter from the back of her mouth. She immediately ducked, saving herself from gigantic fires that soaked up all the oxygen. Megaruby coughed smoke, wiping her mouth as she kicked Amethyst away. The fusion used the mountain behind her as a support of balance as she only had a leg to support herself when kicking Amethyst. The purple giant leaned forward, trying to balance herself from the kick to stop herself from falling.

Megaruby made a beeline for Amethyst, arching back a fist. Amethyst saw through it and quickly crawled to the side. Megaruby threw the punch unwittingly, letting her fist fly into the air and whack a hill.

"TOO SLOW!" Amethyst remarked, standing back up to her full height.

Megaruby understood her that time. She contemplated at her fist. "THAT'S NOT FAIR! I CAN'T BE SLOW IN BATTLE TOO."

* * *

Ruby gritted her teeth. It was starting. Pearl was gonna launch an attack. Sooner or later, would all be causing mass destruction. Amethyst was giving Megaruby a good fight, and Ruby was left to wonder if the fusion could even stand a chance. Then again, whatever trick Amethyst was pulling to turn herself giant wasn't possible for a Gem. A _normal_ Gem, at least. But at what cost was Amethyst taking for doing this?

Steven felt conflicted about Amethyst, thinking that they had to take her down because she was with the other side, but he couldn't bring himself to wish her any harm. He didn't want that purple shapeshifter to attain any massive injuries or anything.

"Witty comment: this battle is as slow as two snails battling it out." Black Pearl stated.

Steven just realized something about Amethyst, and what she gave him last year. "Wait, Ruby, last year on Connie's birthday, Amethyst gave Connie and I my mom's laser cannon." he informed, also remembering where his gloves came from. He felt disgusted about them now.

Ruby groaned, "So what? You want to cause _more_ destruction?" She straightened up a bit, considering the idea. "But yeah, the _laser light cannon_ could be useful... Where'd ya put it?"

"Oh, uh..." His thoughts lingered over to Lion. " _Darn_..."

"What?" Ruby asked, noticing his discomfort.

"I put it in Lion." Steven told her. He had brought it in while bringing out his mom's stuff to inspect.

Still not comprehending, she asked, " _What_?"

"Lion! It's with Lion!" Steven repeated uneasily. "I didn't have any space anywhere to put it, but Lion's di-mane-sion had _lots_ of free space, so I thought... why not?"

"I still don't get it." Ruby replied as she shook her head.

"How could you put a weapon into a lion? Did the lion eat it?" Black Pearl questioned, genuinely curious. "How could the weapon be qualified as important as you two express it to be if a mere carnivore can devour it?"

"No, it's a magic lion. It had my mom's stuff in it. So, it's my mom's lion." Steven said. "I don't know where he's at. I haven't checked up on him in... _weeks_! Where do you think does a lion like him spends his free time?"

"How am _I_ supposed to know?" retorted Ruby bewilderedly.

"Ugh... that idea's _useless_ then." Steven said, waving his hand to kill the thought.

"Well... at least we still have the vine barrier," Ruby grunted, her eyes locking with the ever trembling plant. She then turned to the demigem, eyes cold and calculative. "And _you_ , Steven."

"Hm?"

"You could make a giant shield to block any attack they make, right?" Ruby asked, taking a step forward and glanced at the Amedot ship, which was carrying on its merry way.

"Uh. Yeah. I could." Steven answered.

"You sound nervous," Black Pearl noted. "This is going to be war. We need genuine confirmation. And if you can't do it, then it will endanger your well-being. I told you, you needed that back rub."

"No. It's just... it's been so long since I did that. Expanding my shield. Mostly I just... keep it at a small size." Steven informed, waving his dominant arm. He looked up at the Amedot ship, awaiting its next move.

And it delivered.

A rocket was fired at the vine barrier, simply to destroy their defenses. Ruby immediately reacted, firing the gauntlet she had at the incoming missile. BBRRRAAAMMMM! The two explosive projectiles met in the middle, exploding into a combustion of energy. Red painted everywhere from the intense radiation. The air reflected upon the explosion, picking up winds from the shock wave.

"Those _maniacs_. I can't believe them," Ruby grimaced, glaring at the ship.

Steven turned to Black Pearl for confirmation. She stated, "The trajectory of that missile was for the barrier. They only intended to destroy our defense, not to vaporize us. Though it would be efficient if they did so."

Ruby glanced at the tear in the dimensions. "What's taking them so long?" she muttered, thinking up a few possibilities. "I swear, if Emerald is a traitor. I'm going to _murder_ her."

"Should we attack?" Steven asked.

"Hmph..." The red one contemplated at her fist, before it glowed white. She raised it, aiming at the ship, the temperature rising around her. Black Pearl took Steven in her arms and hopped back a considerable distance, right before a spark of electricity lit up in Ruby's closed fist. Ruby concentrated on that spark, imagining it widening into a lightning bolt. She eyeballed the ship, head tilting to accommodate aiming her hand directly at it. Black Pearl pressed her hands into Steven's ears.

She opened her hand, letting loose a _billion_ volts.

BBBBRRRRUUUUUUMMMM! The deep thunder resonated within everyone, its clap heard from miles. Steven shook from the discharge, albeit being a distance away and not being hit with it. He was an easy conductor for the lightning to touch, but Ruby had concentrated it into a beam, focused on a single point, and struck the ship. The beam collided, its contents smashing against metal, and exploded into separate little crackles of electricity. Amedot absorbed the hit, white zigzags crackling all around the bow.

"That'll fry it," Ruby panted, turning to the two hybrids. "Don't worry. I know its insides. I worked on it myself... well, alongside of Peridot." Except, her plan didn't work. The ship was still moving. It had a shield around it to cancel out Ruby's lightning shot.

A few Gems exited the entrance to check on what was happening. The three noticed them.

"Get back," Ruby barked. "Your orders are to stay inside. _We'll handle this_."

"We want to fight too!" some of them said,

"I mean, look at that one!" another one exclaimed, pointing at Megaruby. "They get to participate in battle! Why can't we? Why can't we get the right to fight for ourselves! We've got no right to do any less than you."

"Yeah! We want to fight too. We want to protect what we stand for!" a blue archer exclaimed. It was Beryl, wearing an electronic headgear to increase her memory unit capacity, courtesy of Emerald the scientific speedster. It only helped her with small things, like names, teams. Without it, she would've never gotten here. She felt so much more whole and understanding than before, she wasn't confused anymore.

Standing beside her was Berry, trying to gently restrain her from coming out.

Steven could feel the determination leaking from them. They were all courageous for standing up for themselves, and he could genuinely feel that bravery without his authentic emotion sensory.

"Well, do you see yourself capable of doing what that giant fusion is doing right now?" Ruby demanded. They went silent. "See? No. We can't even risk fusing, and you all know how that could turn out. Those rubies are simple-minded enough to do so without harm. You guys, however, are _so_ much more than that. I'd have to applaud you later, but really, I can't let my people aimlessly sacrifice themselves. You have no plan. Or I have no plan. And believe me, what we need is less..."

Ruby watched them point at the sky.

The Amedot ship opened up its sides, little carrier aircrafts flew out, holding up troops of Gems. Ruby worded a whole lot of curses. The carriers deployed flew around the vine barrier to the second entrance, where it was unguarded.

"... _damage_." Ruby finished, nettled. "S'alright. Steven, BP and I can still handle this. For now, we only have to wait for Kyanite to open the portal and we all flee. Understand?"

"Where's Lapis?!" one of the Gems cried.

"You need extra Gempower! There's no way you can hold off an entire army by yourselves!" another one retorted, letting Steven and Ruby glance at each other, remembering their experiences in fighting Gem armies.

"Ruby!" Black Pearl exclaimed, pointing at an aircraft that was flying to the other entrance. Nobody went into the middle, for the vine barrier started pouring on its defenses and covered up the hole. So, there was only one other vulnerable point they didn't have cover for. "The other side!"

"Ughhhh..." Ruby groaned. "Fine. You guys, the ones who want to fight. Since you're itching for a battle so much, you can protect us from the back. I wouldn't expect much action though, Rose's vines are strong as hell."

"Yes, Ruby!" the Gems saluted, and started dashing back to their camp to guard the opposite entrance.

The stronger Gems came in at the front, knowing that Steven and Ruby were guarding that position. So, better Gems were sent to incapacitate them. Jade, Hematite, Helios and Sapphire were sent to the battlefield, standing on one of the carrier platforms. The red warrior, the demigem and the cyborg all readied themselves against the Revolution Gems and their troops. The troop Gems had been armed with rifles, filled with Gem destabilizers.

"Black Pearl," Ruby called, without looking. "Are you resistant to Gem destabilizers?"

"I don't know what those are." the Gem cyborg replied, unsheathing metal claws from her fingertips. Steven glanced at them, feeling as though they weren't good enough of a weapon. But maybe she still had something up her sleeves. Metaphorically.

"It's their ammo. Whatever you do, don't get shot by them." Ruby warned.

Black Pearl's yellow eyes glowed. "I've registered their ammunition. The formula they've used is deadly to Gems. But I'm immune."

" _Seriously_?" Ruby grunted, "Only me?"

"They don't know I'm immune. I will use that to my advantage. Element of surprise." Black Pearl stated, as the carriers finally arrived on the battlefield.

Hematite stood forth first, observing their opponents.

"Thank you for not shooting us out of the sky." the bulky Gem said, expressing his gratitude. "That would have been—and I will quote Emerald on this—a _dick_ move."

"Shit, that would've been good," Ruby murmured. "Too late for that now."

Black Pearl stepped forward. "And thank you for not shooting us while you had the higher ground."

"Drat, that would've been good..." said Helios, head perking up behind Sapphire and Jade. For a moment Ruby and Helios locked eyes, recognizing each other, before going back to the battle.

Steven realized he wasn't doing his job, since being so caught up with watching everyone, he forgot he was part of the show too. He promptly brought his shield out and expanded it to defend the other two Gems. Ruby and Black Pearl took slow steps back with Steven, closing off the entrance with the shield.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Jade asked the rocky brute.

"Was I supposed to? It was their turn." Hematite replied. "In addition, Rose's shield is impenetrable, so fighting that would be useless."

"You could, you know, shift the tectonic plates." the ninja stated.

"That would cause a lot of damage to the Earth. Earthquakes could happen in the country next to us. Volcanoes could form in the seabed or on an uncharted island." Hematite retorted.

"Hm. Fair enough." Jade said, before muttering, "You didn't care about that when you fought Onyx."

"The world was at stake. Either it got destroyed or earthquakes would just happen." he reasoned.

"There's no time for debate, guys! We have to chew through the vine barrier." Helios intervened. Since she seemed to be lacking in power by the others, they had given her a weapon (much to Amethyst, Sapphire and Moonstone's comfort), and it was tailored to her liking. The new gauntlets on her forearm lit up, the sonic blasters embedded into her gauntlets activating.

She directed her arms at the shield, a giant blast of sonics hitting the disc of energy. The sound rebounded, while also glitching the shield out. Steven watched as his own weapon get mildly cancelled out by vibrational frequencies. Its holographic representation shook, waving about, wobbling like a thin sheet of metal paper. Ruby prepared her gauntlet again, aiming for Helios more than anyone.

Up above, a loud boom could be heard in the skies. A trail of blue smashed into the Amedot, denting the metal plate. The blur flipped onto the aircraft.

* * *

Lapis Lazuli had arrived on the Amedot.

"Savage Gem to the rescue," she muttered, reminiscing the last time she fought an army. "Hah. What was I thinking saying that last time? So arrogant... I mean, I told myself that it would be such a Steven thing to do if I called myself "the strongest Gem on the planet"... Well, look who's being the naive one now."

She rubbed her water hand, grimacing as she couldn't feel it.

 _Who am I kidding? I'll still call myself the strongest Gem on the planet for the hell of it. I mean, it's not like Onyx is gonna come back solely because I'm proclaiming this title._

Lapis stalked over the ship, finding an old man standing against her way. It was Moonstone. The one who found all her pieces and ultimately saved her from death. She didn't really thank him for that.

" _Move_." Lapis ordered as a warning.

"I won't be the one fighting you, Lapis," the old, hunched man replied. "But try me and you will pay for it."

Lapis used her wing to slam Moonstone against a wall, only for it to splash around the Gem. She raised a brow at that, before Moonstone rushed in and took advantage of her vulnerable stance. He struck the core of her body, using the kinetic energy gained from the prior attack against Lazuli. Lapis doubled over in pain, the attack being so precise and dense in power, it felt like she got shot and what was left was a hole in her waist.

"You've never seen me fight before have you?" Moonstone inquired, brushing his goatee. "Yes, you were never around for that."

Lapis redoubled her efforts, replaying Pearl's actions in her mind. All of her techniques and skill, she would mirror them perfectly. Moonstone's moves were full of fluidity and power, it seemed like something Pearl had.

The ocean Gem rose up, grunting. "So, what... You're a good fighter?"

Moonstone snorted at that. "Yeah, you still don't understand."

Lapis charged in with a flying sweep kick, that Moonstone blocked. She continued with a barrage of well-placed punches and kicks into his excellent defenses, now that Moonstone had recognized it as Pearl's fighting style. Lapis was just hitting a brick wall now, there was no progress. She flew back, panting from mirroring actions she'd never done before, and putting all mental prowess and power into that.

"Okay. You _are_ good." Lapis remarked, huffing.

"How were you able to mirror all of Pearl's moves?" Moonstone asked intriguingly. "Those were her _exact_ moves... _months ago_. Did you train with her? Is that why she dislikes you so much?"

"No..." Lapis grunted, "...I've _never_ trained with her."

"Hmm, then why..." Moonstone stopped, deciding to compliment instead. "...Well, you're a mysterious one."

Lapis grinned at that.

"But..." Moonstone walked up to her, with Lapis tensing up as he got nearer. He was doing a slow smack with an open hand, which Lapis thought to be really petty. Until his hand gently collided with her blocking arm.

Lapis went flying.

She struck the railings of the ship and tumbled in the air.

"...you still don't understand." Moonstone lamented.

Howlite opened the door, rushing to her teacher. "Moonstone! Are you alright?" she demanded, looking around for the ocean Gem.

"Hmm?" he raised a brow.

"I-I mean... You just fought _Lapis Lazuli_." Howlite stated. "Aren't you like... oh. She basically just used physical attacks the whole time, didn't she?"

"Yeah..." Moonstone knocked on his back and straightened himself, before going back to slouching. "It'll get repetitive if I keep going on, which in turn makes it boring. I'll be tired of that." He walked to the door, jabbing his thumb at the air behind him. "...You take over."

"Uhhh-hhmm... What?" Howlite asked.

Lapis Lazuli flew back, her position covering the sun's rays, making her appear as a shadow. She glared down at the aircraft, her eyes only finding Howlite on the ship. Lapis dropped onto the deck's floor and looked menacing to Howlite's eyes, but she didn't crack.

"So," Howlite started, stalling time to build up energy. "You're the strongest Gem on the planet, right?"

"Yes," Lapis narrowed her eyes at her.

"But what about Onyx?" Howlite asked.

"Is she gonna stop _me, right here_ , _right now_ , just because of this _very_ discussion?" Lapis retorted.

Howlite responded by blasting her with white hot beams of energy.

Lapis was pushed back from the force, before making a water clone of herself to stand there, so she could sneakily evade from the silver Gem's sights. Lapis swooped under the ship, to fly back up on the other side. She was about to punch Howlite with a pillar of water, when the silver Gem noticed and started blasting her. Lapis dodged and weaved from her blasts, taunting her aim by sticking her tongue out immaturely.

And then a metal contraption flew at her without her knowledge, lodging around her arm. Lapis cried out, surprised at feeling the extra weight and pressure rise in her limb, only to find a metal clamp around it. She heaved it around, looking around for who shot this at her, when she heard the sound of a jet fly by the sky.

Small dots on the metal clamp blinked to life, activating itself, and started flying for the rocket sound. Lapis was tugged with it, soaring the air for the jet.

"GAAH!" she suddenly screamed, feeling as if her arm had been ripped out of its socket. Thankfully, it didn't. However, it still hurt like hell.

The ocean Gem fought against its powerful pull, but she realized that would only lead to her tearing her arm out, so she desperately tangled with the clamp, while flying at her own pace in the same direction in the jet so she wouldn't accidentally have her arm severed.

It electrocuted her.

"AaaAAAaghhHHHhh!" she shouted, still grunting against the pulling thing.

And then she found out what that jet sound was. It wasn't a jet. It was a man, with a jet pack. A very powerful one, with two propulsion engines on his back, carrying him to a destination. Lapis knew this man was Wild Card.

* * *

A few minutes ago...

"Lapis!" Steven exclaimed happily as he saw the blue trail hit the Amedot ship. "She came!"

Ruby snorted immaturely, "Uh, yeah, kid, she _came_."

Helios stopped to look up at the ship with her comrades.

"Aw, hell." Helios muttered. "Never mind. We've got a plan for her. Well, Pearl does. We have to keep hitting them."

"Why're you so determined to hit them?" Hematite asked.

"Do you _want_ to fail now?" Helios retorted.

Suddenly, a green trail zipped around the Revolution troops, breaking their weapons in half. The green blur skidded to a halt, showing herself to the world, before running again. Emerald took Hematite first, carrying him miles away, and in a few seconds, they ended up in the Pacific ocean, where Emerald dumped him in. The speedster went back to the battlefield, still at a high acceleration, and punched Jade so hard, it made a shock wave that sent the ninja flying into the vine barrier. Jade was stunned, the vines swirling around her and swallowing her up into the barrier.

Emerald then did short work of the troops, hitting them individually and knocking them down, just like she did back when she infiltrated the Revolution base four months ago.

Helios was shocked to see everything go so poorly around her after she had jinxed it.

Sapphire, however, had hidden herself away from the speedster, knowing that this would happen. Even if she did warn them, it would do no good to a monster like Emerald. Even if she had taken off the speed demon title for the moment, she was still _the_ Speed Demon. The icy Gem had one trick up her sleeve, and she was going to wait for the opportune moment.

The speedster zipped around Helios, before finally swinging a haymaker to her head, knocking her down. Emerald turned to Steven and the others, and sped her way over to them.

She knocked on the shield. "Uh, hello! _Housekeeping_!"

"What took so long?" Ruby asked, right after Steven let the shield down.

"There was a lot of reluctance from Kyanite about the location I picked." Emerald answered eerily.

"What did you pick?" Ruby inquired.

"The Kindergarten."

The name struck Ruby as a sensitive topic immediately, glancing at the giant Amethyst that was trading blows with Megaruby. The red warrior stared at the speedster with uncertainty, wondering _why_ , out of all the places, would she pick the Kindergarten as the best place for a temporary base. Many Gems hated the Kindergarten for its purpose of draining the Earth's life force, and how twisted and disturbing the place was.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"What's wrong with the Kindergarten?" Emerald replied innocently. However, Ruby knew that was an act, since Emerald was fully aware of what the Kindergarten held.

"What do you mean, _what's wrong with the kindergarten_?" Ruby repeated. "It's just... Black Pearl, you could do better explaining."

"It's a hellhole for Earth. But it's also Homeworld's greatest achievement here." Black Pearl stated simply.

"What's wrong with you people? That's all in the past. We can use that place to our advantage! We can make more Gems—"

"NO!" Ruby shouted, putting her foot down on the subject. "Are you _insane_!?"

While they were bickering, Sapphire used this time to concentrate. She had foreseen herself doing this. She had learned how to do it for the past months. And she had knowledge over the time-space continuum, just like Kyanite had.

She focused on time. On its flow. The reality of its perception. She imagined the whole world stopping, all reality breaking down, crumbling to a stop. Time itself would freeze over... just for this moment. When she returned to the world, everything had been drained of color. Everything was in a gradient of black and white, except for her.

Sapphire stepped out of her hiding spot, looking around. She saw Megaruby and Amethyst posing punches. Lapis had halted in her flight, as white balls of energy were hovering around her. The four Rebelling Gems were conversing. Ruby was getting angry, Black Pearl was neutral, and Emerald was oddly frozen in place. Steven stepped out of it to watch Lapis.

Everything stopped.

Time had frozen.

Sapphire had successfully frozen time.

Of course, time was a delicate thing. Sapphire knew that. But after watching so many futures, she decided that it was meant to be. Her ability to see through the future and freeze over the temperature led to a fusion of these two terms. She froze time.

Sapphire only needed to do one thing to defuse Emerald.

The blue Gem went over to the speedster, who was stuck in place, unmoving. She raised her fist, brass knuckles forming over them, its edge sharpening. Her fist moved from the top of Emerald's back, down to her side, making a deep cut into the suit that would mess up the speed demon. Emerald would have to slow down, all of her potential speed lost because of this.

After that, Sapphire leaped over to the vine barrier, where Jade was last seen. The icy Gem picked her up, breaking all science with magic, and brought her free from the vines. Sapphire brought Jade back to her hiding spot, trying to figure out how to bring back the consciousness of the Gem troops.

But Sapphire's time ran out.

Immediately all time went back to working order, her control over it melted away. Sapphire began to feel the aftereffects of her time freeze. She became dizzy, her thoughts and movements became slow and numbing. It was like she was freezing over to compensate for what she did to the whole universe.

Jade noticed she was freed from the vine barrier, and found Sapphire next to her, sweating profusely and seeming agonized.

Emerald felt her suit rip from the back. "I'm not insa..." she stopped midway, noticing an off feeling. "...something happened."

Ruby raised a brow from that random comment.

Black Pearl already observed the change. "Your suit has been torn. There's a rip on your back."

"WHAT?" Emerald cried out, looking back, to see a slit from the back of her neck to her side. "When did... that's _impossible_." she grunted menacingly, the glowing white eyes on her mask deepened.

Jade overheard Emerald and glanced at Sapphire, who was trying to nod at her. But her physical failure just led her to twitch. The ninja pulled out a sword from her back, speeding her way over to Helios and picking her up. The newcomer shook her off rudely, wanting to do it herself.

Emerald glanced over at Jade. She muttered curses under her breath, before speeding off against Jade. The ninja, also having impeccable speed, matched Emerald, along with having much more skill, she was able to get the upper hand quickly. The two left trails of green along the battlefield, racing across Amethyst's and Megaruby's feet, and over mountains.

Some of the more determined Gem troops got up and huddled together, trying to think of a plan. Ruby shot her gauntlet at them, and they all scattered before the explosion.

Steven just kept watching Lapis fly around the white pellets, before a projectile went for her. The demigem watched as Lapis was caught and heard her scream. The sound of a jet was made overhead, and Lapis followed reluctantly.

Steven turned to Black Pearl, who was aware of everything. "What happened there?"

"Lapis Lazuli got trapped by a metal clamp," Black Pearl stated, her gemstone lighting up a hologram to show a zoomed-in look at Lapis struggling with the metal inhibitor. "She's being pulled by thrusters on the side of the contraption, which is following the sound of that jet."

"I'm going after her." Steven informed solemnly, starting to run for the trail.

"But we need you here," Black Pearl said, halting the demigem in his tracks. "Howlite had fought Lapis Lazuli on the ship. There are still more opponents to hold against."

Ruby had been listening in on them. "Well..."

Steven and Black Pearl turned to her.

"They know Lapis can change the tide of the battle, which is why instead of battling here, they decided to bring Lapis _away_ ," Ruby told them. "Steven... go get her back. You're immune to any of our weaknesses, which I think they're gonna use against Lapis." Ruby's eyes wandered dangerously across the battlefield, thinking of Helios. She grunted lowly, " _We can handle these guys_."

"Witty remark: make it quick," Black Pearl told him. "By my calculations, we have about a..." she looked around, spotting only Helios as their last contender, with a few Gem troops. But contemplating back at the ship, and Emerald's loss of speed, she finally made her calculations. "...thirty-five percent chance at winning without you and Lapis. You two are " _game changers_ ". You're vital to us."

Steven nodded at the cyborg, before running off at top speed. With a leap, he overcame a mountain, almost tripping on the edge, but he got there.

* * *

Lapis tangled with Wild Card, the two zipping away from the fight, both trying to gain control of flight. But Wild Card's rocket boosters were too powerful to change direction, and with Lapis in a tight vice hold, he brought her to another country in a matter of minutes.

Wild Card's jetpack ran out of fuel and they glided through the air, eventually landing painfully on the ground. They tumbled about, both taking damage in the fall. The assassin's unusual jetpack broke apart, metal absorbing the brunt of the impact and shattering itself.

Lapis got up quicker, able to stop herself from spinning out of control. Wild Card, however, just kept at it for a good twenty feet, before stopping himself.

"So, you've brought me out here to dig your grave. How quaint." said Lapis, also noticing the metal clamp around her arm seemed to be void of energy. She easily tore it into pieces, her frustration against it was unfathomable.

Wild Card just heaved himself up, reaching to a pouch on his belt, digging into its contents and pulling out a tiny smoke pellet. He triggered it, and tossed it at the space between him and Lapis. The pellet exploded into gray wisps of smoke, before clouding the place into a haze.

"Pfft, _smoke_ ," Lapis mocked, narrowing her eyes with a playful smirk.

The ocean Gem flew through the smoke and put her hands on Wild Card, suddenly feeling worse. Her skin was burning.

"Not smoke," Wild Card replied. "It's laced with the one compound your kind is weak against."

"Ugh... Gemmm deestabilizerrrsss. Even the nammme...'s _stupid_..." Lapis choked, stumbling backwards and forcing herself to move forward. Backwards was the gas, and she didn't want to get even further to that. But Wild Card kicked her into the cloud. Her already off-balance caused her to fall and writhe in agony of the smoke. She cut herself off from breathing, shutting her mouth and cupping her face with her water hand, turning it into ice.

Lapis worked through the pain, her blue skin glowing yellow. She got herself back up, eyes shutting from the tremendous surges of the smoke in her body, and the tiny explosions going off on her skin. The ocean Gem stepped forth, spreading her water wings out and washing the particles off her skin. She drank in the water, using it to cleanse her insides of any contamination, before vomiting it out.

Lapis panted, now free of any pain. She glared at Wild Card, who was taken aback by this.

"What's your next move, smart guy?" Lapis asked, turning her water wings into icicle shards, pointing them at the assassin.

"You can't kill me," Wild Card said, "Or rather, you won't."

Intrigued, Lapis played his little game. "And why is that?"

"Because..." He placed a hand on his mask, removing it from his familiar face. Lapis' eyes widened at him, before settling into confusion. "...of this."

"Uhh... what?" Lapis asked, "Does your face mean something? Is something supposed to happen? I know, you're someone significant, if you made your reveal dramatic like that, but _who_ are you... exactly?"

Greg sighed, "You really don't know who I am?"

"Well... Is your plan, like, plastic surgery to make you look like Steven? Because... that didn't work."

"I'm the kid's father!" he exclaimed.

Lapis soon fell into a state of shock. Sure, that was impossible, but nobody had ever claimed to do so before, so this was new. But she recounted all her memories of Steven's father and only knew that he was dead... But Pearl's memories told a different story. How could she have been so blind? This was Greg Universe! It only took a little digging into the Knight's memories to know this, and Lapis berated herself for such little work needed to be done to solve this conundrum.

"...oh." Lapis looked up at Wild Card. "Oh, no... _You're him_?!"

"Yes, I'm him! And _yes_ , I have a grave. And _yeah_ , I'm also legally dead!" Greg retorted.

"That means... This whole time... You were..." Lapis stammered, contemplating at the ground. She stared right back at him. "You're _alive_?"

"Why're you reacting like that? You've " _died"_ , too." Greg stated.

"But, it's just... you're human..." Lapis said.

"Did you _see_ me die?"

Lapis thought of that, before realizing her mistake. "...no."

"Well, how are you supposed to judge on that criteria!" Greg shouted.

Lapis pushed her hand into her hair, holding her head. "This makes... a whole lotta changes."

Greg didn't see how him being alive made any difference. "Oh, yeah, _sure_... Lots of change." He reached into a pouch and collected a few pellets. Lapis immediately reacted, slamming into him with her water wings. Greg let go of the pellets, not before activating them. And they went boom.

* * *

Ruby already knew who Helios was. She wasn't a low soldier as most thought. In fact, she was older than all of them. And had more expertise than most of them. Her red and black color scheming gave off a good hint that already made Ruby suspicious at first glance. And her eyes just gave it away.

" _Bloodstone_ ," the red warrior grunted, gritting her teeth at the sight of her still being alive. Black Pearl was able to register who Bloodstone was, so she took an interest in what's happening. After all, Bloodstone was the teacher to Gems under Pink Diamond.

"Huh, so you do recognize me," Helios replied, starting to smirk sinisterly. "I have to say, your friends are either pretty ignorant, or they're downright stupid for not remembering me, if you were able to conceive the answer in a matter of minutes when they didn't even suspect it! I'm most disappointed in Moonstone, but eh, he's an old fart."

"How the hell do you keep coming back?" Ruby demanded, standing her ground. She created a gauntlet again, ready to fight against this monster.

"Why the hell should I tell you?" mocked Helios, snarling. "I made a promise, kid... Do you remember it?"

"Oh, stars," Ruby shook with "frustration", already having this talk months ago. "It's happening _again_."

Black Pearl noticed something about Ruby. "Your fear levels have elevated."

"I keep my promises!" Helios activated her sonic gauntlets, raising them up. "I'm going to be the one to end you! I am the _one thing_ you _cannot stop_!"

Ruby had a sense of déjà vu, and she already knew why. Bloodstone had just shown to her that she was capable of coming back, even though she shattered her months ago. What if this just keeps happening, and at the worst of times? What if Bloodstone really was the one thing she couldn't stop? No! There had to be a way.

Ruby shot her rocket gauntlet at Bloodstone, who used her sonic weaponry to glitch it so it only became light. The energy left to target Bloodstone was then absorbed by her.

The warrior couldn't help but gasp a "Huh?", as she watched her missile turn into energy, before getting sucked in by Helios' bare hands.

"You learned new tricks, Ruby." Bloostone replied, clenching her fist. "But I can learn new tricks too."

And then, Bloodstone brought her arm up, and Ruby's gauntlet formed over her forearm. The energy from Ruby she absorbed had been reused into a weapon of Ruby's. Lapis might've done the same thing, but those were water constructs. This one that Bloodstone had was the real deal.

"Complimentary comments: impressive," Black Pearl said, starting to applaud the stone's act. After three robotic claps, Black Pearl returned to her stiff behavior. "But if that is all, then I'm afraid to say that you're at a loss. We're still going to—"

BRRRRRROOOOOOMMMMMM!

Megaruby fell onto a mountain, turning it into a landslide. Amethyst brought out her whip and swung it at Megaruby, catching her by the neck. The purple giant then spun back, swinging her whip the other way, causing Megaruby to go flying in the air. The fusion smashed against another mountain, inciting another massive shake to the Earth.

BBBRRAAAAMMMMMMMMM!

Black Pearl solemnly turned to Ruby. "We might lose this. And _not_ in the route of a thirty-five percent chance."

"You mean, we're gonna lose this colossally?" Ruby asked worriedly, looking back to the vine barrier that's picking up the Gem troops they didn't see. Black Pearl nodded at her. The ground shook again and the land tilted. Helios' side of the ground began to sink. Then it stopped, lowland forming by the giants' battle. Bloodstone started charging at Ruby.

VIEUUMM! The portal opened and Kyanite popped out, looking sheepish.

"Uh, hey, Ruby," Kyanite muttered, "Our destination is the Kindergarten..."

Ruby got tackled by Bloodstone, getting the two in the air for a second, which shifted their balance and made them stumble down the slope.

Kyanite looked to Black Pearl, who responded, "Emerald told us."

As Ruby tumbled around the straight floor, she noticed Sapphire had been hiding against a rock and was holding herself like she had seen a ghost. If her expression showed that, then that means she lost. Her side lost. And Ruby's side won, which fueled her confidence. But, what if it was something else she was scared about? Like losing a loved one—

 _Focus, Ruby!_ the warrior grumbled. _So, she can steal my energy. Big deal. Well, she can't absorb physical attacks!_

Bloodstone smacked her in the head with her gauntlet, knocking her out with a swift chop.

"Too slow, kid," Bloodstone announced, standing over Ruby's downed body.

After reading that Ruby's vitals have gone down, Black Pearl decided to jump in since it would be what her master wanted her to do. The cyborg glided into the air, arms outstretched over her head, to scratch the traitor with her metal claws. Bloodstone noticed her in time to block with the gauntlet, only for it to be sliced open into five pieces with a slash by the pearl hybrid.

"That seems useful," Bloodstone remarked, immediately snatching Black Pearl by the throat. She grinned sinisterly. "Give that ability to me."

For a while, nothing happened.

Bloodstone's smile faded. Still, nothing happened.

"Your technique is only available to you if the entity you want to absorb does not have genetic material that is already tampered with." Black Pearl informed, gripping the red one's wrist and digging her claws into it. "I, unfortunately, am a hybrid of a pearl with advanced technology of five millennia ago."

"HraAGH!" Bloodstone threw the pearl away, but she attached herself to the monster by stabbing her claws in its arm. Black Pearl clung on, and started to climb by swiping her claws against her red skin, but "Helios" blasted her with sonics. Black Pearl stumbled back, stunned for a moment, before getting kicked in the side of her head. Black Pearl recovered, cartwheeling from the momentum of the kick, and landed behind Bloodstone. The cyborg charged at the small of her back, using her technological implants to boost her efficiency.

WHAM! Black Pearl elbowed Bloodstone's back, before being elbowed in the head by the latter. The cyborg stumbled yet again, but her units recovered faster this time. However, Bloodstone slammed her forearm into her and added a spartan kick by the end. Black Pearl backflipped with the momentum, somersaulting in the air, and landed gracefully.

Black Pearl's scanners picked up rising levels of energy from Bloodstone. But what was surprising was that it wasn't Bloodstone's own energy, except from other Gems.

" _Howlite's energy rising_. Moonstone: energy rising. Pearl: energy rising. Unidentified golden energy signature rising. _Sapphire's energy rising. Amethyst's energy rising. Hematite's energy rising. Jade's energy rising. Ruby's energy rising. Emerald's energy rising_." Black Pearl's scanners stated, all identified within Bloodstone. " _Steven's energy rising_."

"Are you still confident you can take me on?" Bloodstone asked, forming a white spear, a whip, a pink shield, a pair of brass knuckles, a crimson gauntlet, a shoulder piece, a baton and a ninja star. She raised them all up, fusing them into a weapon of its own.

A unified shield, capable of recreating all weapons in one go. It flashed colors of the Gem energies it had, ranging from silver, blackish red, gray, white, pink, red, gold, jade green, emerald green, sapphire blue and violet.

And Bloodstone held it.

Black Pearl's scanners went off the charts, so she deactivated that program in her head and focused on the mission. When, suddenly...

Bloodstone was instantly covered in ice.

There was no reason behind it, as far as Black Pearl was concerned. She could process her own vision to see shots of Emerald frozen in the air as she ran. But she could not find any evidence to show that anyone had done this. Except, Sapphire appeared out of nowhere just as the ice came out of nowhere. The icy Gem looked exhausted and mentally drained, but a couple quick breaths brought her back to an average performance.

Sapphire turned to Kyanite. "Portal her out of here, _now_!" she shouted.

Kyanite blinked, snapping back into reality, and did as she was told. The cyan Gem looked out into the sky, before contemplating back at the ice block, pushing her hands against it. The dimensions came intact, but there was something off about it. Something wasn't right. She couldn't access her own ability because there was an interference. There were holes in the reality of time that Kyanite found, and she couldn't do anything about it.

"I-I can't," Kyanite stuttered, feeling disappointed in herself _again_. And this time, it was to someone she had complete trust in, and she couldn't do it for her. "One of the dimensions is broken. Time has some holes in it."

Sapphire panted, knowing it was her fault. She clenched her fists hard, frustrated with herself. "Can you still make, at _least_ , a portal—to trap her in?"

"Well, it wouldn't really... _trap_ ," Kyanite replied.

BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

The giants' fight shook the ground so much, the ice began to crack around Bloodstone. Sapphire tensed, already thinking of her choices. What should she do? Neither she, or the others, have the power to beat this kind of energy... except for... _the answer_.

The unified shield started to shake violently, colors flashing.

* * *

 **A/N:** NEXT CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER

Man, how will I ever top this when we get to the Cluster or the Diamonds? Eh, I'll find a way. I'm sorry this was... late? I was supposed to put this up yesterday, but... I... _slept_. So, I was supposed to finish it today, but my bro and I found an unopened _Plants vs Zombies_ game in our cupboard! So, we downloaded it and finished the whole game in... _six_ hours? Yeah, that took up time. Anyway, at least this chapter is out, right?

Lapis and Greg's interaction was more comical than I expected. It was not supposed to be comical, but it was. It's stupid.

 _To David Blackwood:_ Yeah, Peridot will come back. Someday. Sooner or later. Also, character faves aren't a chapter thing. They're "long term", or something like that.

 _To a guest:_ hi... _again_?

EDIT: jesus christ, it's bismuth rainbowhead! good thing i had no plan to implement her or else the au would have another difference from the show.

* * *

Breaking News: _Divided_ the Gems on Earth will _Fall_. Or, you could say Amethyst and Megaruby fell a lot. Actually, a lot of Gems fell a lot this chapter.

Next Chapter's Title: **"Song of Ice and Fire"**

* * *

Character Faves:

Lapis Lazuli, Peridot: 2

Amber (why would you pick her), Amethyst, Kyanite, Ruby, Sapphire: 1


	50. Chapter 48: Song of Ice and Fire

A/N: We beat _Just Another Stone_ in the word count department! That's sweet! I'm the number two most-worded story in the fandom, I guess. (Yeah, I checked Ao3.) Next stop, beating _Polished Gems 1: A Fated Meeting_.

And I say, this story is number 10 in the reviews department. There's just so much excite in me. And yes, excite. Not excitement. Ughhhh, being late again is not something to look forward to. It took six days for this?! It's not even that good... welp, I guess that's what happens when I'm not exactly at home for four of those days.

* * *

Chapter 48: Song of Ice and Fire

* * *

The ice started breaking.

Sapphire stepped back, glancing at Ruby, and going for her. Black Pearl immediately got in her way, putting on a ferocious stance to block her away from the Rebellion's leader. The icy Gem's fists were clenched in frustration, all her energy and focus used up on breaking time.

" _Move_!" Sapphire cried desperately, voice cracking. She could see the future now, _vividly_.

* * *

 _Craters everywhere, the land scorched till nothing but ash was seen for miles._

* * *

"I sense your fear rising." Black Pearl said, "But I cannot let you have the chance to harm one of my teammates."

"Are you _serious_?" Sapphire shouted, losing her stoic composure. She couldn't rely on anyone right now due to them being focused on the war. She had to act on things herself. She pointed at Bloodstone. "This being is much more dangerous than the war itself. And even if she won't target the world, she _hates_ Ruby! She's going to _kill_ her."

"Then what do you propose?" Black Pearl inquired, still not moving from her position. "What do you plan that requires you getting to Ruby?"

"I..." Sapphire paused, thinking over it, before shamefully answering, "... _fusion_."

"No."

" _Why_?" she instantly barked, already void of her shame.

"It is not for me, but for those around her. You'll take those Gems' greatest leader from them." Black Pearl pointed at the vine barrier. "They will be aimless. They won't have someone with Ruby's resolution to lead them to safety. I don't see any tactical breakthroughs in surrendering the only competent leader."

"I promise. I _won't_ take Ruby from you." Sapphire declared, "We'll fuse into Garnet. We'll defeat Bloodstone. Then we're going to separate and go back to the way things were. Then this pointless war will go on..." She bared her teeth, seeing the cyborg stay still. Since she didn't make a move, Sapphire got frustrated and continued, "If you don't let me, Ruby is going to _die_!"

"We don't know that," Black Pearl replied nonchalantly. "Bloodstone could be beat. And Ruby is a powerful individual herself, saying she would be able to take care of herself."

* * *

 _The Amedot ship laid in a pile of heap, smoke rising from the ground. Emerald, Black Pearl and Amethyst were down, better dead than ever, their bodies covered in rubble. The others had poofed or shattered. Bloodstone laughed at the mess, her eyes setting on the lone warrior._

* * *

Sapphire was about to retort, when...

CRACK!

Sapphire immediately turned and the unified shield slammed into her chest, taking the air out of her lungs. The blue Gem held the sides of the shield, grunting painfully as it had embedded into her torso, blood staining her dress and painting the shield. The unified shield flew back to Bloodstone's freed arm and Sapphire was flung with it. The red monster was still encased in ice, only one of her limbs had escaped prison. The shield returned to her, and Sapphire was hurled away agonizingly by the momentum, leaving the shield and exposing her wound into the dirt.

"SAPPHIRE!" Kyanite screamed, dashing for her downed body. The young Gem whimpered as she neared her, kneeling down and turning Sapphire over. She gasped, watching the silver blood stream down everywhere. With shallow breaths, Sapphire caught the younger Gem's wrist, and pointed at the bigger objective.

"Focus on _her_ ," Sapphire groaned, head arching back from the pain.

* * *

 _Ruby glared back at the monster, holding her bloodied right arm. She muttered something. Behind her, Lapis nodded gravely, and started to flee away with Steven and Kyanite in her wounded arms. Bloodstone was about to follow, when Ruby put a stop on her plans._

 _"Hold it!" Ruby cried, getting Bloodstone to focus on her. The lone red warrior smirked as she got her attention. "Your fight is with me now. The others are of no concern to you... got it?"_

 _"So, you've finally gotten serious, huh?" the energy thief asked. Ruby grinned boldly._

 _"I've finally realized how to annihilate you," she declared, drawing another cackle from her._

* * *

Kyanite nodded.

CRKKK! Bloodstone's arm circulated around, trying to break the ice and free herself. She used the unified shield to bash against the barrier, surprised it was much denser than she thought it was. Black Pearl gracefully jumped onto the top of the ice like a feline, and slashed her claws against Bloodstone's arm. The ex-teacher grabbed at Black Pearl, who nimbly dodged her attempts, striking again and slicing skin, drawing blood this time.

Bloodstone shouted in the ice, before realizing that she still had another thing in her arsenal other than the shield and her power. She poured energy into her gauntlet, which was on the arm encased in ice. The sonic blasters started cracking the barrier, its vibrations bouncing off the solid and hitting another part. This continued until sound echoed around and amplified, cracking her prison quicker.

Black Pearl saw that and stabbed at Bloodstone's other gauntlet, only for it to be blocked by the unified shield. The cyborg's attack bounced off her defenses, before the ice exploded, sending Black Pearl _flying_.

Bloodstone emerged from her chilling cocoon, her physical form buffing up from the energies coursing through her. Eyes glowing blood red, the energy thief bathe in riches of power, smirking to herself as she stepped out. Bloodstone snarled almost immediately, turning to where Sapphire was. She spotted her on the ground, vulnerable, and made her way over.

"You just had to intervene, didn't you? All I wanted was to kill Ruby, but you had to go betray your own side and work for the enemy. Now, I do recall the last time Ruby and I fought, she mentioned that you were her only solution to stopping her rage." Bloodstone stated, holding up her shield over Sapphire's hand. "I would like to see if that's true."

* * *

 _"Is that true?" Bloodstone sniggered._

 _Ruby kept grinning, eyes focused on the enemy. A red aura grew from within her, swirling around, before humming triumphantly like a glow around her, rapidly rushing upwards. Energy began to build up in the red warrior, rising continuously until her physical form couldn't take it. Bloodstone smirked as this would be more energy for her to feed off of._

 _"I'm going to obliterate you," Ruby announced, draining herself of her own life. Seeing Bloodstone still smirk ignorantly fueled her confidence. "Have fun taking this."_

 _Bloodstone realized her mistake too late. She destroyed everything, there wasn't anything left for Ruby to lose. Ruby put too much energy. There was no escape from this. Everybody had a limit. And Ruby surpassed her own._

 _There's just too much to take. Too much to absorb. Their physical forms won't handle this. Their gemstones would be eradicated. Ruby smirked in the face of death; she was killing herself killing Bloodstone._

 _And then, all of the energy the red Gem attained coalesced into an explosion._

* * *

Kyanite leaped from the shadows and charged with her dagger aimed for Bloodstone's back. But the thief turned and smacked Kyanite upside the head, sending her to the ground.

"We have a winner!" Bloodstone announced as she picked Kyanite by the hair. "You just earned yourself a _trip_!"

Bloodstone threw the cyan Gem, hurling her into the sky.

Black Pearl got back up, setting herself up to another battle. But Bloodstone leaped over and struck her shield at the cyborg, knocking her down predominantly. Black Pearl's mechanical defenses took the brunt of the attack, however, she knew handling any more would result to her downfall, so she stayed down.

Bloodstone turned and readied her shield by her side, waiting for little Kyanite to come back down. The teleporter flitted through the skies, having no ability of flight and nobody to save her. But, in a last ditch effort, she tried to create a portal in front of her, sensing the dimensions around her.

"Come on..." the falling Gem said, eyes closed to concentrate on her inner senses. "... _focus_!"

Bloodstone narrowed her eyes at the sky, and the moment she saw the Gem falling back down at terminal velocity, she brought her shield back, and swung it as hard as she can. She calculated the trajectory and was sure it would hit. Kyanite had no way to lose speed, and even a change in direction would be too insignificant, as the shield expanded to cover more area.

Kyanite's senses spiked as she felt a chance at a portal, and opened up the rift. At that moment, Bloodstone's unified shield flew at her, swallowed into the portal.

"NO!" Bloodstone exclaimed, clenching her fist.

Kyanite's portal ended up behind the energy thief, and the little Gem pointed both feet out, slamming all of her force into the back of the red Stone.

Bloodstone staggered forward, gritting her teeth as she turned back to swing at the smaller Gem. Kyanite ducked under her hook, and stabbed her dagger into Bloodstone's solar plexus. A cluster of nerves were touched and stunned the red Stone.

"You little brat!" Bloodstone remarked, grasping at her stomach.

Kyanite tried to think of a retort, but really couldn't. All she could think of was, _you old hag_.

"Hey, shithead!"

Bloodstone turned immediately, a wave of fire engulfing her face. The flames left superficial burns as it disappeared into the air, smoke taking its place. From a few meters away, Ruby was standing up, fuming at the blood-red Stone.

"Your fight is with me!" Ruby exclaimed vainly, " _The others are of no concern to you_!"

Sapphire tensed as she heard the words. Words that brought Ruby to her doom.

Quickly, Sapphire staggered onto her feet, blood pooling on the earth around her. She looked to the vine barrier, where Rose's fountain was, where the healing tears were, then glanced down at her lethal wound.

* * *

 _The explosion covered a radius of miles._

 _The bright-hot sphere of energy had reached the epitome of its destruction, atomizing everything in its grip. It reached supernova levels of temperature, energy never seen before ejected outwards in a beautiful display of colors splashing against the land. And in the epicenter, the red warrior vanished._

 _All that was left in the end was a smoking crater._

 _And the laughter of an immortal enemy._

* * *

Bloodstone chuckled boisterously as she laid eyes on Ruby.

"You think you can still defeat me with _this_ power?" the energy thief exclaimed, showcasing her shield by punching the air. Air pressure destabilized and a small tornado shot out of her fist, wreaking havoc by a hundred feet. She turned to Ruby. "Please, show me how you still think you're hot shit."

"I already know your weakness," Ruby smirked. "You might've learned how to absorb energy attacks by lord-knows-what, but you're still vulnerable to—"

"— _physical attacks_? Hmm?" Bloodstone finished for her. She pointed at her chin. "Go ahead. Hit me."

Ruby, dumbfounded by her confidence, begun to think. Looking at Kyanite, the younger Gem was glancing at the two, taking a step back. Ruby stared at Kyanite for a while, a single idea frequenting her mind. It was a stupid and impractical idea, which was to portal Ruby into the sky and make another portal where she would fall, directed at Bloodstone, using all of the force amounted to hit her. But that wouldn't make much kinetic energy if she could already summon lightning.

Bloodstone kept her haughty composure. "Come now, I'll let you two work together! Isn't that fun?"

 _She's becoming dangerously arrogant,_ Ruby thought to herself. _That's how power screws you up. I could use it to my advantage, but how can I if there's nothing to overpower her with?_

Kyanite walked over to Ruby. She said, "You know, Sapphire proposed that you should fuse with her. She looked really desperate, like its our one chance. And since she's the one with future vision, if she wants a plan to succeed, she knows the most efficient way."

Ruby glared at Kyanite. She explained, "Or, it could be a way for Sapphire to rid of me and herself from this war in the long run. Then, I'll have to leave the whole rebellion to Lapis or Emerald, and you know as much as I do that both of them are crazy."

"Yeah, I know how crazy _Emerald_ is..." Kyanite remarked, "...she activated the Kindergarten."

Ruby had to replay that sentence in her head.

" _What_?" she demanded.

"Emerald activated the Kindergarten."

"That _son of a bitch_ ," Ruby muttered, fists clenched. "And she still thinks it's the perfect idea to use it as a temporary base... Damn it! All those signs..." she gritted her teeth, realizing Emerald's twisted behavior. "...that asshole is still loyal to Homeworld."

Bloodstone shouted, "Any day now!"

"I, uh, don't think now's the time to focus on Emerald." Kyanite whispered.

Ruby created a gauntlet, before letting that disappear. "Well, focusing on our main problem isn't easy. We can't use energy attacks, and we can't get too close or the sucker will steal your energy. Our only hope are physical attacks, but we can't get too close to her. She's already powerful enough, fighting her now would be suicide."

"So, we flee?"

Ruby glanced at the vine barrier, seeing the swirling portal still active. "Have our Gems escaped yet?"

"I... don't know," Kyanite admitted.

Bloodstone snarled. "You guys really know how to disappoint!" she said, "No matter! I'll just bring the fighting to you."

Ruby kicked Kyanite out of the way, a shield barely scraping their cheeks. Ruby flipped backwards, her cape ruffling in the back, before she felt herself get pulled by the neck. Bloodstone caught Ruby by the end of her cape, and pulled her closer for a punch. Ruby disregarded her fasion sense and ripped herself out of the diabolical cape-mistake from last year, and was able to avoid a hit.

Bloodstone just glared at Ruby's cape, and tossed it away, focusing on the red Gem.

"You're gonna have to do better than cheap tricks to beat me!" Bloodstone snarled, as Ruby threw a fireball at her face, realizing she never did absorb that one.

* * *

Far away...

"Why am I even dealing with this?!" Lapis demanded, mostly to herself than the only other person with her. She flapped her wings and soared into the air. "I don't even need to deal with you! I've got other things to worry about!"

Wild Card pulled out a pistol and shot Lapis with a Gem destabilizer dart. The ocean Gem staggered back, holding a nub over the pain. She growled as she used her other hand, her _only_ hand, to take over and pull the dart out. Lapis flapped her water wings again, turning them into icicles, and firing them at the assassin. Wild Card ducked and rolled, the shards of ice missing him completely. Lapis didn't want to hurt Greg Universe out of all the people in the world, but he was too determined to stop her. So, she needed to remember a way to disarm him without lethal force.

Lapis swooped down to tackle him, but Wild Card fired at her, pinning Gem tranquilizers into her skin. The ocean Gem worked through it, thinking nothing of it as she dive-kicked him. Wild Card stumbled back and expected more damage from it, before realizing she wasn't going all-out on him. He threw a smoke pellet on the ground below him, covering him in a cloud of mist laced with Gem destabilizers. That should defend him against Lapis' antics for a while.

He didn't expect for her to grab him from behind and put him in a chokehold.

"Stay down," she warned, not moving a muscle as Greg kept squirming around, trying to get out of her hold. Whenever he got a chance to free a limb, Lapis would immediately counteract and trap it. "You're not going to defeat me. Ever. Not with that little party trick of yours. I've already found a way around it." Lapis stated, having covered her body with water to stop the mist from ever reaching her.

"What about this one?" Greg asked as yellow light began to form over parts of his armor. Lapis felt her skin burning from his shoulders, chest, arms and legs. Yellow holograms appeared over those places, acting like solid armor. Except they were just projections of light, right?

"What is this?" she demanded, her muscles weakening and her hold on him diminishing.

"It's something Pearl worked on. Basically, solid-energy-light made of Gem destabilizers... something along those words." Greg replied, his arms starting to overpower Lapis' hold on him. "So, if I make a comparison for us humans, it's like... a guy, with fire armor, fighting another guy."

"Pretty deadly," Lapis remarked, concentrating more on water to hold him down than her physical strength. She felt her own mind dying, screaming in agony. But pushing all those thoughts aside, her body still felt like going through hellfire. "Still, not gonna—"

Wild Card elbowed her in the stomach, causing her to lose her focus momentarily.

He used this to his utmost advantage, instantly freeing himself from her hold, and slamming his forearm into her head, knocking her down. Of course, if it were just him doing that, she would just stumble back. But since he had the destabilizer armor covered over his forearms, shoulders, shins and upper body... he was practically on an even level with her.

Lapis' tenacity disagreed.

The ocean Gem got up and leaped backwards, giving herself and him some space in-between. She spread her wings to the side, letting them broaden in length, extending into a pair of dragon wings that she sported back when she fought in the Bloodstone war against that jasper.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Greg taunted.

Lapis huffed. She didn't want to admit it, but inwardly fighting off Gem destabilizers was taking a toll on her. Her physical form was straining itself and starting to... complicate. Her abilities were getting jittery, dying in an instant before restarting.

"I ripped someone's arm off doing this." Lapis told him, dark circles starting to form under her eyes due to exhaust. "Truth be told, that person snapped me in half. On the moon."

"That's..." Greg glanced up at the sky, imagining the moon up there. "...a little too... _extravagant_."

She retorted, "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger."

Saying that would be a slap to his face, she realized. His dream was to become a rock star, she remembered that, and he became the _world's greatest assassin_ instead. She had to question the legitimacy of that title, but since she took the title of _strongest Gem on the planet_ , she knew there were some exaggerations. If he was the greatest assassin, then he wouldn't be heard of, would he now? But even so, Lapis couldn't help but pity him. His face was full of tense rage, and his hair was just the same as it was back when he first met Rose. He looked almost the same, except... older. _Fiercer_.

She ruined his life.

He was the unspoken victim of her hate. The one overlooked because he was just human. And Lapis couldn't kill him, that would be messed up even further. To have the person he disliked the most kill him after eleven years of preparation from his son's birth, and kidnapping, and his wife's death. Truly, a messed up life to live.

Saying sorry would just spit in his face. All that torment for all that time, and it all amounted to an apology. What a massive middle finger to send.

Lapis narrowed her eyes at the assassin, wondering what he's trying to do. Would he kill her now? No, that wouldn't seem like him. He wouldn't want to see his son wallow in grief. Or was he planning to reveal himself to Steven, and think he'd accept him? Nonsense. Steven would never leave her side. This man in front of her was a _dead_ man to Steven.

"I don't do well with drama," Lapis said, gradually raising a hand, and her giant wing rose twenty feet into the air. Wild Card stepped back subconsciously. The ocean Gem thought of non-lethal ways to attack him, and settled with one. "But, if you have anything leftover to say before I drown you... say it."

"You're a _monster_ , Lapis," Greg stated.

The ocean Gem felt like that actually meant something for once. Coming from the person who had ruined his life ruined by her, and said with such confidence as his last words, it got to Lapis. She was a monster.

An impossible villain to his story.

Lapis swerved her hand down, the giant wing slamming into Wild Card, who rolled out of the way. Still, her water wings easily maneuvered around this small obstruction, shooting out narrow lines that grew in number around the human, trapping him in a bubble. The bubble began to fill, rising into the air, with Greg trapped in the sphere of liquid. Getting a rebreather would be a waste of energy for Greg, since he knew she would just rip it out of his teeth.

Greg swirled around in the water bubble, holding his breath until he lost. Lapis just let the water do its thing to the human, waiting several minutes, before his body went limp in the water. Lapis reached out to him, motioning her hand to the ground, letting the assassin's drowned body lay dead by her feet.

Lapis crouched, putting her ear to his chest for a pulse. His heart was still beating. Good, he was still alive. She put a palm on his chest and began to rid of the water in his lungs...

 _There's no water,_ she found out, looking unimpressed. It took her a moment to realize. _Wait! That means—_

A blinding flash of yellow slammed into her neck, pushing her down before her nerves received the horrid energy of a Gem destabilizer. Greg was pinning her to the dirt, glaring as water began to drip from his hair and onto her. His breaths were heavy, his eyes... cold and dead.

"I'm a monster too, Lapis," he whispered. "I've plunged myself into the deepest abyss to get to this point. I've tortured myself physically and mentally. I've killed _hundreds_ of people, Lapis..."

The ocean Gem's eyes widened.

"...I did what I had to, to make this world better for whatever you've planned for Steven. And you go on to make greater evils. I mean, you're a _crime boss_. Don't you have any sense of morality? Am I _really_ going to leave my son to _you_?" Greg asked.

Lapis tried to exert her confident composure, albeit the fires burning through her throat. "You don't have a choice now," she replied, smiling painfully. Vivid memories of Steven smiling at her, looking up to her, sharing moments of peace that mothers would crave, fueled Lapis. "He sees me as his mother. You kill me now, and he won't forgive you... Plus, you're a _dead man_."

Greg glared at her.

"I'm not going to kill you. That would be stupid." he said. "I don't care for what Pearl ordered me to do. She sent me to put you back in your Gem."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I just want to say... I'm here. I'm _alive_. And please..." Greg's eyes stung, and Lapis realized he was crying.

He waited a few moments.

"...make sure Steven lives a good life."

Lapis' eyes widened.

"Make sure you're there for him at every corner. Make sure... he becomes what Rose destined for him to be. Do all that... for me. And don't tell him... _don't_ tell him that I'm alive. It'll crush him... I'm not that good person he'd expect... I'm not what anyone would expect. I'm a killer, and I don't want him to think of his own father that way. I want him to be the best damn person in the world. And I could see it coming from you."

Lapis looked up at Greg in awe. She finally had permission to take care of Steven by his parent. That scorching pain in her neck subsided, as Greg got off of her, his Gem destabilizers switching off. The assassin took a couple steps, before dropping to the ground, sitting and contemplating at the clear skies.

Lapis laid there, still surprised that whatever happened just now... _happened_. He was just about to kill her... and then, decided to change his mind, and officially cross himself out from Steven's life. He had just promised to her, that he wouldn't want Steven to know about him, with his reputation and all, and let her become Steven's parent. He just gave her official permit to become his guardian. Steven's dead father approved of her. She just felt... surprised.

The ocean Gem sat up, looking at Greg's back. All that responsibility and all the opportunities... he left it to her.

"I love him, Lapis." Greg frowned, feeling nothing but utter disgust about himself for what he had done. All those people he killed, the lives he took. He would never be able to see his son again because of his actions, even if it was for the greater good. "Take care of him for me."

Lapis just stared blankly at him. She couldn't understand how could anyone just do that. She ruined his life, and he just gave her his most prized possession. There were so many happy emotions stirring inside of her, that she was really going to stay with Steven, no matter what. And then all of her sympathetic emotions... were all focused on that man. The amount he would have to go through to make the decision he made, the amount of courage and strength to even tell her. She just felt heartbroken about it.

But pitying him would be an insult.

"I..." She tried to speak, and encountered a lump in her throat. "...I'll make sure of it, Greg."

The assassin nodded stoically, letting his finger trail through the sand.

"LAPIS!" Steven's voice cried. "LAPIS, ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Steven..." Lapis whispered, glancing at Wild Card, before turning to the sound. The demigem was a mile away, confused, as he ran over to her, slowing down when he noticed there weren't any imminent threats to her.

"Uh..." Steven looked around, spotting Wild Card and a glimpse of his face. He looked so familiar without the mask he wore. It was like looking into a mirror, but... more handsome. And _sad_. There were a lot of things stirring in his mind, ranging from clones of him and him from the future, but he guessed the only way to know was to ask. "...Who are you?"

"Nobody, Steven," Lapis answered, getting up and patting the boy's shoulder. "He's just a Wild Card."

"I see what you did there," the assassin retorted, keeping his facade, making it look like nothing had happened. Steven glanced at him and Lapis, knowing there was something off.

"Yeah..." Lapis added. She flapped her water wings out and carried Steven into her arms. "We're done here."

Steven raised a brow at her. He felt so much sadness in the air... and so much pride as well. The ocean Gem hovered into the air and turned to the direction of the battlefield.

"I wish this war wasn't here. Perfect day for a family outing." Lapis told him as she flew.

"Yeah, we could go to the carnival. All of us. Connie and Peridot included."

After a bit of silence, with his words sinking into her, she finally broke.

"You know what, Steven... Your father loved you."

"He did? _You know him?_ "

"No. I never met him in person, but I saw him from Pearl. And I know, he loved you very much. He'd risk everything for you. I wish... I would've known him more."

Steven kept quiet, conflicted about that topic.

"Steven?"

"Yes?"

Lapis shut her eyes, relaxing herself for a moment. She nuzzled her nose into his hair, all the doubts she never knew she had were gone. She sighed the words, strangely happy despite everything that was going on.

"Happy birthday."

* * *

The Battlefield...

Ruby threw another fireball at Bloodstone, which barely fazed her.

"Do you really think that could stop me? Puny attacks like that... _Weak_!" Bloodstone exclaimed, rushing in and delivering a nasty blow to Ruby's neck. The smaller Gem flew into a boulder, shattering it into pieces. "You can never stand up to my power! Face it, you're _done for_!"

"Y-...Yeah," Ruby groaned, gripping the dirt and getting back up. The swelling injuries all over her body wasn't going to make her give up yet. "You and your _stolen_ power..."

Bloodstone smirked. " _Stolen_? You want a fair battle?"

The larger Gem sped over to Ruby and smashed her fist into her stomach, providing another hefty blow that could crack mountains. The younger one doubled over onto the ground, yelling silently in anguish.

"There is _no_ such thing!" Bloodstone stated, grabbing Ruby by the hair and heaving her up. "Nothing is fair... you should know that. I _taught_ you _that_!"

Bloodstone slammed Ruby into the ground, enough to make cracks into the hardened crust of the Earth. The red warrior grasped at her solar plexus, all of her nerves being sent tremendous shocks. Bloodstone raised a hand, forming Pearl's spear, and stabbed it into Ruby's thigh.

"AAAAAGHHHHHhhrrghhhh..." Ruby screamed, holding it in at the end.

Bloodstone narrowed her eyes at her pain. She enjoyed it, yes, but something _did_ feel wrong. It wasn't satisfactory enough, like she had cheated her way here. Did that feeling even matter to her anymore? She shrugged off her distaste and soaked herself in the moment, priding herself in her victory.

This would be a memory. She finally defeated _Ruby_.

That didn't sound right.

Bloodstone shook that off too, focusing on relishing in the moment and ignoring her pitiful state; taking pleasure in _finally_ defeating a ruby.

BLASSHH! An explosion went off on her shoulder. She waved the smoke away and found a squad of Rebellion troops standing ready by a portal, which Kyanite was holding. Berry and Beryl had their arrows nocked at her. A few other Gems held out other weapons like rusted swords.

"This is... _funny_ ," Bloodstone remarked. "Sending an army to fight me? Just to defend _you_? They think you're some sort of Diamond, worthy to be protected. Now that's beautiful. To think how far a single ruby can go..."

Ruby gritted her teeth, fingers digging into the dirt. "Get out of here, guys... You're smarter than this..." she muttered.

Megaruby's foot accidentally stomped on the vine barrier, her massive weight no longer tolerable to the vines. The giant fusion tumbled back into the base, creating a giant hole in its defenses. Amethyst let out a chuckle as she finally knocked the titan down. Looking to the ground, she caught a glimpse of Bloodstone standing against a squad of Gems and Ruby being tortured in front of her. Amethyst grunted as she heaved her foot up, and slammed it down at Bloodstone. Even if she was on her side, Amethyst knew there was something fishy about _Helios_ , and having her true colors revealed into the monster from months ago made Amethyst seal her decision.

Bloodstone felt a shadow loom over her, and much to her chagrin, she looked up.

Despite Amethyst's slow speed, Bloodstone was too late. The energy thief got squashed under the ginormous mass.

The Rebellion Gems looked confused. Wasn't she on Bloodstone's side?

Megaruby got back up and seized Amethyst by the waist, tackling her back. Amethyst almost lost her balance, but she regained her footing in time, and struggled against Megaruby. Both their strengths were equivalent, and Amethyst didn't have time. She was compensating a _ton_ (literally even more than that) of Gem energy to turn into this form, and she may give out any moment. The giant purple Gem was pushing against Megaruby, but she decided to pull her, bringing the fusion into surprise at the action. Amethyst pulled her, causing her to fall over her, and the purple one caught all her weight and began to lift her whole body into the air.

The weight made Amethyst rethink her battle strategy, it felt like the weight of the entire _sky_ was on her shoulders. The violet giant grunted, her feet sinking into the Earth due to both their masses planted into only two shoes. Amethyst had to do it quick, Megaruby was squirming around hard, flailing her arms, shifting their central weight around, and causing her to lose her balance. Amethyst, with a hand under Megaruby's neck and the other on her bottom, Amethyst began to _pull her apart_.

Megaruby yelled, her waist lengthening and glowing white. Amethyst's arms began to part, the space between them widening gradually, until...

FVVISSHHH!

Amethyst's hands were by her sides.

Rubies rained.

* * *

The Amedot...

Pearl saw an opening and took it.

"Howlite, Pyrite... you two are going to get into that hole in the barrier."

The two nodded, rushing out of the room and out onto the ship's deck.

* * *

The Battlefield...

 _Howlite's energy is moving..._ Black Pearl noticed. _Their trajectory is aiming for the barrier._ Her yellow eyes moved, staring at the point in the sky she expected Howlite's route would take. The silver Gem's aura was seen, along with an identified gold one. _My revenge will be exacted._

Black Pearl got up, her mechanical components running efficiently at a hundred percent. She saved up for this moment. The moment of truth.

"Black Pearl!" Kyanite yelled after her, but her pleads fell on deaf ears, as the cyborg promptly entered the base to confront the ex-prince.

"That Gem is smart. Playing dead to flee at the chance!" Bloodstone exclaimed, glaring at the rest of the Gems. "Why don't you follow her example? I sense a portal in that defensive plant mucus. Why don't you all flee like her?"

"The portal..." Kyanite remembered, forgetting to check on that. She took a quick glance into the entrance of Rose's fountain, noticing that the cloak had been torn off to reveal Rose's statue, and it was... crying.

All at once, the vine barrier began to bloom into rose petals, their entire defense... withering away into the air.

"No..." Ruby groaned, fist burning at whoever had done it.

In the center, where Rose's fountain lay, Sapphire was standing against it, letting the statue's tears invigorate her. To replenish her energy and to rejuvenate her body. The icy Gem sighed as non-fighting Rebellion Gems rushed to the portal, after seeing that the vine barrier had transformed into nothing but rose petals. A beautiful signal of _their_ defeat, and a beautiful signal of _their_ victory.

Pyrite and Howlite landed as the rose petals fell, the former watching in awe at the display, and the latter focusing on her objective. Her eyes fell on the portal.

"Howlite!" Black Pearl screeched, gunning for her. Howlite raised a brow at whoever said that, since it sounded so much like Pearl, and then...

She saw her.

Shock immediately kicked in, and then an array of sadness and guilt. Howlite just stared, watching as Black Pearl came closer. She could just move or dodge, but she was so stunned to see who it was.

" _B_... _P_...?" Howlite whispered the cyborg's initials, like she had said it so many times before. Of joy, of sadness, of rage... now, it was of _grief_.

And then, Black Pearl hit her in the head.

* * *

 _"Prince Howlite, this is your new pearl."_

 _The silver Gem looked up at her new servant, since she was short compared to the standard height of Gems. Howlite just looked at the pearl, seeing small hints of her nervous composure. Her slim build was already disappointing to the prince._

 _"We've trained her to your standards. Just like the King ordered."_

 _"I've told White Diamond that I didn't need a Pearl. A prince is destined for greater battles. They do not need fancy ornaments at their side. They'll get shattered."_

 _"Then shattered they will be. There will always be new ones. Besides, the king has ordered for her to teach you in the beauty of the Homeworld's ecosystem."_

 _Howlite's eyes studied the pearl. The silver Gem sighed, she herself was a young prince, only made several years ago as an experiment of recreating a Diamond. Procedures didn't go as planned, and White Diamond told the scientists never to speak of this accident, and being too prideful to admit it, called her a prince._

 _"Then we shall go with the learning schedule. The Gem scrolls are so archaic it blinds me reading them. A pearl will do good." Howlite turned to the pearl._

 _She nodded._

* * *

Outside...

Ruby harshly tugged at the spear, able to rip it out of her leg. She silently hissed at the pain, glaring up at Bloodstone, who was too focused on the others. The energy thief had her hand raised against the rebels, energy building up in the palm of her hand, and... _released_. Kyanite stomped in front of the rebels, creating a portal for the energy ball to go through. The energy was sent into the dimensions, but what Kyanite forgot was to make an outlet for the portal... and instead it ended up going through and blasting her right in the chest.

Ruby screamed in rage, alerting Bloodstone. The energy thief turned to her and shot every projectile weapon she had. Ninja stars, daggers, spears, purified energy blasts.

They all stopped in front of her face.

The red Gem glared for a while, expecting death to be swift and painful. But it never came. The weapons were stuck in flight, and so was Bloodstone, who didn't have any reaction to what just happened. She was as still as a statue. Ruby stared at awe and wonder, contemplating if whether this was a latent ability she just discovered or time just broke around her. Color began to melt away, turning all of this into a gray painting.

"Ruby."

Said Gem turned to Sapphire's voice, who seemed to be the only one conscious about what was happening. And the only one moving besides her. Everyone else had been in a pause. Everything stuck in one place. Ruby stared at everything, this beautiful scenery. Was this even possible? Or was she really just hallucinating after death? Except, Sapphire was there, so...

"You know what we have to do," said Sapphire.

Ruby snorted in derision. "What?"

The word echoed in her head.

"Fusion."

Ruby glared, looking at her surroundings to see if they were desperate enough to do it. She stepped away from the weapons being flung at her.

"Fusion?" Ruby asked. "You'd have to think I'm a nutjob or something if you think I'm even considering that."

"Do you see any way of defeating her?" Sapphire retorted. "If we combine our strengths and form Garnet, we will _have_ a better chance. Both of our abilities, all used at their maximum. Bloodstone may have more power, but we will have the better."

"And then I lose. Because I'm the leader of this rebellion... and you'll never let go of Garnet. Sapphire! I'm not going to do it! You're just going to screw with my mind!"

"I'll never do such thing! I _promise_... we'll fuse. We'll fight the battle. And we'll separate. We'll go back to doing... _this_." She turned to point at Gems fighting each other.

" _No_..." Ruby's voice cracked.

"Oh, come on!" Sapphire burst, frustrated. "Whatever we had! You're just going to throw it away. We're just going to pretend like we never had each other? Just because of a _grudge_ from ten years ago? We already fixed the problem! We have Steven back! We're not angry at Lapis anymore. You've become her friend. We're all together now. We've just grown... distant because of this experience... haven't we?" she realized, "We never talk to each other anymore. We're like... _strangers_." She turned her head. "Maybe I shouldn't have been confident about this plan working out... It's just.. We fuse, fight, and separate. Simple as that. Ruby, I _promise_... I'll... I'll just..."

"I can't," Ruby replied. Sapphire glared at Ruby, already at her limit, but instead of Ruby standing up for herself, she found her looking disappointed at herself. "I know you promised that you'll separate after we fuse. But... I'm not worried about you. I can trust you on that." Ruby confessed and looked up at Sapphire, looking shameful. "It's that... it's _me_. I don't trust myself. I don't think I'll be able to separate from you again."

Sapphire's mouth hung open at Ruby's words. She shortly regained her composure.

"Then... I guess... This plan won't work out after all..." Sapphire replied. "I know, you have a whole army to take care of... I wouldn't want to hold you back from that responsibility. There's always another way. Someone else could... save the day."

"But who else has that kind of power?"

"Onyx?"

"She's not here."

Sapphire sighed, "My time is running out. We have to think of another way quick. That monster you're facing? I've seen you die trying to kill it. Self-destruction doesn't work."

Ruby looked around at this frozen reality. Bloodstone wouldn't be able to absorb their power if they attack her like this. It would be more than instantaneous, that Bloodstone wouldn't be able to process any attack. She looked over at her Rebellion, something she prided herself in making, something that made her worthy to be seen like Rose Quartz. And at Sapphire's words, saying that she resorted to self-destruction, would mean she would give her life to destroy Bloodstone. She would be gone after that, and in what kind of mindset did she have to be in order for that future to happen?

Everyone would be dead.

Her own Rebellion of Gems... _dead_. She was going to resort to be in a state where she would never lead the Rebellion, just like if she chose going to fuse with Sapphire. At least, in that choice, they would have a chance. Everyone will be _safe_.

"Sapphire."

The blue Gem just stared aimlessly at the scenery, enjoying the silence. "Yes?"

Ruby hummed a familiar tune, giving her a hand.

Sapphire looked at it, then at her eyes; full of devotion. "Are you sure?"

"C'mon. For Garnet."

* * *

Bloodstone watched her weapons being flung at Ruby, already on target. Missing her had never crossed her mind, since it was impossible to dodge it at this speed. And yet, she continued to astound her by vanishing completely in the act.

And a new challenger approaches.

"No such thing as a fair battle, huh?" the new being's voice said. The anticipated fusion had all three eyes glaring at Bloodstone. Ruby's cape (which was a mistake) had made its way into her design, along with Sapphire's warrior garment (her gi jacket), which was now shaded crimson. Ruby's star belt-buckle was placed in the center of Sapphire's sash, which was wrapped around her waist. The two trails of Sapphire's gi made its way down Garnet's thighs, adding some flair into her swooshes.

Garnet spawned a pair of her iconic sunglasses, putting them on. The shades of blue and red were at even size. Both of their personalities were at unified control.

"Well, you're not wrong," Garnet remarked playfully, crossing her arms over her chest. She cracked her neck, giving off a satisfying sound. She noticed her body was stiff, so she started unwinding herself by doing some warm-up exercises. "It's been a long time since I've been me. So, sorry that my body's a little rusty. Just give me some _time_ to get used to this." she deadpanned.

Bloodstone snarled. "So, you've fused. That's not going to change anything. I've got your powers as well. I could very well replicate your same energy!"

"Oh, really?" Garnet asked, working on her legs. "Well, I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve. Ruby and Sapphire have learned _a lot_ on their own time apart. And I know _all_ of their new knowledge."

Kyanite grunted as she sat up, clutching her chest. She looked over at the fusion and marveled at her, thinking she would never see Garnet ever again, and she was gladly proven wrong.

"Well," Garnet stood up to her height, finishing her warm-up. "I'm ready now."

Bloodstone narrowed her eyes. She had used that time, which Garnet used fooling around, to think of a plan. But now, she realized she didn't even expect to fight Garnet.

The fusion raised her hands, both gemstones shown in her palms.

"I'm _ready_ ," the fused warrior repeated.

"Just because you two have fused doesn't change anything." Bloodstone lied, knowing full-well how much this changes. She mentally kicked herself for repeating the same line she just used moments ago. "Your confidence is going to get the better of you soon, after I unleash _my_ power."

"I think _your_ confidence is dwindling with every passing second, since I appeared." Garnet lamented, like she already knew who was going to win, and was disappointed with the results. "I'm pretty sure, in this form... _you'll never be able to touch me_." she concluded gravely.

"What? Is your _speed_ something to brag about?" the energy thief demanded.

Garnet smirked, putting her arms down to her side.

The fusion didn't move from her spot.

But Bloodstone still felt the force of a fist punching her in the face. The red Stone flew backwards, crashing into the dirt and making a straight pathway. Bloodstone touched her cheek, and it was grazed with blood. She slowly got up, wary of the situation.

"She... didn't even _move_..." one of the Gems remarked.

"She's _incredible_!"

"Wait, who's she a fusion of?" asked Beryl, dumbfounded.

" _Ruby_ and _Sapphire_ ," Kyanite smiled.

"That's amazing!"

Bloodstone harrumphed, glaring at Garnet. "That didn't even hurt." she remarked honestly. "I was expecting more from that. You only caught me off guard."

"It was only a demonstration," Garnet told her, shrugging nonchalantly. "But if you want my best shots..."

The fusion brought her hands up, and her gauntlets popped into existence with a bright glow. Her fingers clenched and unclenched, the crackling sounds of her gauntlets' joints clinking with every movement was satisfying to hear.

Then, Garnet vanished.

In the next instant, Bloodstone felt the force of a thousand punches throughout her entire body. Garnet appearing in front of her with only a hand outstretched, even the fingers, and her other fist winded up by her side. The shorter of the two staggered back, gasping as blood dripped from her mouth. Bloodstone felt sore all over, everything was mind-numbingly painful.

"Did that hurt?" Garnet asked in a monotone, clearly uncaring about Bloodstone's state.

"I couldn't even see you... What the hell..." uttered Bloodstone, holding her chest and wheezing. "How did you..."

"You keep your secrets of revival. I keep my secrets of my speed." Garnet retorted, "Isn't that fair?"

Bloodstone growled and brought out her unified shield. The energies of every major Gem in the vicinity were all placed in this one disk. It's power was so immense, even Garnet would admit she wouldn't be able to beat that. It was as if all the powers of each powerful individual, excluding Lapis Lazuli and Onyx, were fused into one weapon. This would be the result.

It was much powerful than Steven's unified shield from last year. Now, having eleven Gems to take from, double from last year's six.

Bloodstone didn't throw it at Garnet, knowing that she'd just dodge it with whatever instant teleportation ability she was using. She also knew that this shield couldn't protect her at all sides, so she had to figure out a way how. Thus, she enlarged the shield, and wrapped it around herself, like a thin coat of rainbow armor.

Garnet raised a brow at that. She'd have to get creative to get around this.

"You can't hit me like this! My defenses are _impenetrable_ ," Bloodstone stated, still hurt over Garnet's last attacks. The fusion knew she wasn't lying. There would be no getting through it, there was too much power that her hits now would do nothing.

But, Ruby knew a trick on how to raise her offenses, and Garnet would like to implement that. The same technique was used on Bloodstone before, efficiently killing her inside. So, Garnet raised both gauntlets, letting them glow white with energy.

The temperature heightened around her, her gauntlets superheating rapidly to create the state of matter that the stats were made out of. Plasma. Her white gauntlets started fuming, rising through temperatures above lava. Then, with a crackle of energy, her gauntlets struck each other without even touching, only because the electricity generated was so great it was unstable to hold it all. Garnet separated her hands from each other, creating a wide electrical arc in front of her due to the plasma being too stubborn to move. Eventually, it had to.

"Oh, so you're doing the same thing Ruby did last time." Bloodstone informed, creating a unified spear to use against Garnet. Her hand was shaking. She was going to lose, and she feared that. Her own confidence went from an all-time high to an all-time low.

Garnet flicked her fingers open, and electricity struck where her fingers were pointed.

Jagged white lines took over the air, sending a static vibe everywhere. Her lightning went, making a loud, booming thunder in following.

Garnet remained stoic as usual, seeming unimpressed at every turn. In fact, inwardly, she was laughing to herself at the new powers at her fingertips, but also reminded herself to end this quick, and not get too arrogant. The fusion looked at Bloodstone, ignoring that electricity was striking the ground from her gauntlets. She felt the air, she felt the dimensions close in, and one in particular, with two mending holes in it, Garnet jumped into.

Using Ruby's knowledge over Kyanite's dimension-hopping skills, Garnet learned a better way to freeze time without damaging the realities. She would enter a time dimension where time is just a fixed point, and let this dimension coexist with reality in her favor, causing a whole time freeze without ever creating holes in time.

Garnet went over to Bloodstone, delivering a punch to her new armor, letting her plasma explode, and then added another hit in, doubling the effort.

Garnet let time flow again, and Bloodstone's unified armor exploded with white. Electricity ran amok, sending discharges everywhere, and a wild display if hot white zigzags scattered. Billions of volts transpired in those two hits, running through the shield and causing tremendous amounts of force, also creating thunder that boomed through everyone's ears. Bloodstone went deaf, and her armor crumpled where Garnet hit her, punching holes like a pencil through paper.

Bloodstone screamed in agony, hell wrapping around her.

Like last time, the electricity sparked where she got struck, killing Bloodstone with the indescribable force and the supernova-like temperatures. She had already become crippled with those thousand punches, and these two blasts of energy were just reapers sent for her death. Bloodstone would've tried to absorb this energy, but...

It was already _too late_.

* * *

Garnet picked up a piece of Bloodstone, inspecting it for a while, before flinging it into the sky with her daunting strength. That one shard was officially gone. For safety measures, Garnet picked up another shard of Bloodstone and bubbled it, sending it to the Temple. She then took another piece, and smashed it into dust, hopefully confirming that Bloodstone would never regenerate ever again.

Garnet dusted her hands, her job here was done.

But something troubled her. Something interested her. There was something more important for her to investigate now than joining the war with her comrades... of which she had no side to partake in.

So, with Sapphire's ability to hover and Ruby's technique of flight, she was about to soar into the sky to " _investigate_ " the world.

"Garnet," Kyanite called.

The fusion turned, all three eyes landing on the short Gem.

"Where are you going?" Kyanite asked.

"Somewhere. Enjoying myself." she answered simply.

"Didn't..." her eyes narrowed for a second, "...Sapphire _promise_ to... bring Ruby back after this?" she asked, motioning to the rebels. "They don't have a leader. And this war is still going on..."

"It's best for me to stay out of this. I'm too excessive for this battle." Garnet replied, not really wanting to think on which side she would pick, mostly because the Ruby and Sapphire in her would counter endlessly and never make a choice. In the end, all it would give would be a headache. "Me being here would cause a nuclear war. But I'll be around. Don't worry. I have faith in Steven and Lapis to take care of you."

"Ruby said Lapis was crazy." Kyanite informed.

"Ruby doesn't know everything." she answered solemnly.

"So, Ruby's not coming back?" Kyanite asked, deeply disappointed. "Did you really... just lie to us?"

Garnet sighed, "Sapphire promised to give her back. But Ruby doesn't want to. It's too much for her to bring me back and separate." She put a hand on Kyanite's hair, ruffling it. "That's from Ruby."

Kyanite gave a sad smile. "I could tell."

Garnet waved and turned to the skies. With a smile to herself, she fled from the battlefield and into the skies.

"Ruby isn't coming back?" one of the Gems asked. "She's staying as Garnet?"

"Well, that sucks." another said, "She could've easily beaten the Revolution."

"Guys, she's a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire. Sapphire is from the other side. Since both ideologies are clashed, Garnet will never pick a side."

"Ohhh..."

A blue blur made its way onto the ground, looking around. The vine barrier was gone. Rose's fountain was working. Megaruby and giant Amethyst vanished. Mostly huge signs of change to Lapis that something went down here. She was gone for a few moments to fight a human, and they've accomplished a crap load without her.

"Aw, what did I miss?" the ocean Gem whined. Steven was about to say the same, though now in hindsight he now knew that would've sounded whiney.

"Where's Ruby and Black Pearl?" the demigem asked instead.

"Black Pearl went for the Gems there," Kyanite pointed at the stadium of Rose's fountain, where a few troops were battling other troops. A few rebels with them started to run for their comrades. "And Ruby... well... She fused with Sapphire to fight off a bigger threat."

"A fusion? Ruby and Sapphire? Wow, I've... only heard that one story." Steven said.

 _So, Garnet is back,_ Lapis thought. _I never thought I'd see the day._

* * *

 **A/N:** Haha. Garnet's finally back. Oh, the amount of people writing to me about Garnet... Wait. Nine?! Only nine reviews with at least hints of Garnet on them? What was I so anxious about?! Never mind then.

Anyway, a song I found years ago has fueled me once again! It's " _Firewall"_ by _Les Friction._

I had decided to cut this chapter off just before Garnet, but I decided... You know what? People are starving out there, wishing for the moment Garnet would come back. Their hopes are already beyond -23, and are only continuing for the satisfaction... the _reward_. It's been forty chapters overdue. I gotta make someone out there proud for reading all 295k words of this. And c'mon, I can't make another cliffhanger after leaving Garnet out for so long.

Also, that line where it said, "Ruby hummed". Well, she was humming a song. And to be specific, it's _Stronger Than You_. Now, I know what you're thinking, "but that doesn't fit with the timeline, Garnet sang it when fighting Jasper, and you didn't put any of the lyrics here, other stuff." Well, I had this headcanon that Garnet has been saving this song for centuries, and already had the basic idea for it. So, no worries here.

P.S. I'm sorry. I got lazy again at the end there. Well, not exactly lazy, but uninspirational. And a bit anticlimactic in my opinion. Oops, I'm not supposed to say that. Welp, my careers over. I can't carry moments!

 _To David Blackwood:_ No worries, man. I'll let you put a fave on Lapis. And, about Onyx... well, _Gem Ex Machina_.

* * *

Breaking News: 'Tis a reference. Don't sue me. Anyway, if you still need explaining, well... Sapphire is ice. Ruby is fire. Their song, an experience together, is a fusion. Garnet.

Next Chapter's Title: "Gem Ex Machina"

* * *

Character faves:

Lapis Lazuli: 3

Peridot, Ruby, Sapphire: 2

Amber, Amethyst, Kyanite: 1


	51. Chapter 49: Gem Ex Machina

A/N: Hey. Guess what?

We officially crossed the 300,000 word milestone! Hooray! A first time for everything! (Insert more congratulation stuff for making 304k words of stuff.)

* * *

Chapter 49: Gem Ex Machina

* * *

Amethyst shrunk and laid in a heap, watching as sparkles of light rained down from the sky.

She might've won this fight, but her body was in _shambles_.

"... _agh_ , I did it..." she grunted, laying back to rest her strenuous body. Her muscles began to bulge convulsely, attached to releasing energy that was not needed now. Now, she was back to her tiny self, only needing to release energy at normal amounts than the thousand fold intensity her giant form required. Her physical form kept glitching, forcing her to cry out silently as her body burned.

She needed to go back into her Gem and regenerate. Well, not regenerate, but normalize the flow of her energy.

From the heavens above, a tall, lithe person landed beside her, holding her head up to face them. Amethyst's blurry vision could make out whites, blues and pinks from the person. She'd seen her too many times to mistake her for someone else.

Amethyst struggled to say something, and it came out as nonsense. "...Peel..."

Raising her brows, Pearl chuckled heartily at her, "Really?"

The purple Gem tried to say " _it hurts_ ", but it came out as a strangled, "...Ih _hurrsss_..."

The white Gem recognized it, and laid her head down. "You can retreat into your Gem now." she ordered softly, saying compliments she should've told her years ago. "You did _amazing_ today. I... I'm proud of you. You did... _huh_... the _impossible_."

"...Waeh _sss_ so hadd..." _Wasn't so hard._

Amethyst suddenly cringed away at the spike of pain in the back of her head. Pearl jumped a bit, before soothing the younger one by humming a gentle tune.

Amethyst stopped struggling and looked over at Pearl, her own mind warping colors and logic to change the white Gem into a lime, triangle-headed nerd. The violet Gem yearned to see more, but the rhythm in her ears brought her to sleep, reluctantly shutting her eyes.

Her gemstone fell into the dirt, leaving no body. The Knight picked her up, cleaned the dust off, and put her in a pouch on her belt. She was safe with her.

Pearl rose to her height and looked to her surroundings.

Rose's fountain was in plain view, its humungous size daunting her. She tore her eyes off the monument, focusing on the mission. Gems were fighting in the battlefield around her, some fighting in the air and falling. The sounds of metal clashing and battle cries were heard severely. Two hundred Gems were in battle, hogging the floor and wiping it with Gems. Pearl's eyes narrowed at the bloody scene, before glancing up at Rose's statue, which was crying in the midst of it.

It just kept crying. As if, she was judging them now...

Pearl's eyes dampened, looking down and finding Gems using the fountain to their advantage, splashing themselves with the tears and duking it out in the monument. It seemed nobody was fazed by the statue or respected it, they were all focused on war. Gem troops in uniform against the rebels with their archaic weapons. Both desperately fighting to live.

" _Help_!" a small soldier cried, trying to hold her own against a Quartz. She ducked and rolled, but got caught by the leg. The Quartz was about to smash her in, but she didn't. She just took a half-second to think, and placed the soldier down. The Quartz had the strength to crush her without a second thought, but she didn't, opting to just let her go and fight some other Revolution Gem.

Pearl looked confused at this act, then remembered that these were Gems leftover by Homeworld, and are now forced to live by Earth rules. Or these were one of Rose's followers, and abided her code for the Gems living on Earth. They stood on the same ground and were fighting for two different ways to handle how to stand on said ground. There might be another faction they didn't know of, since finding that other camp a while ago.

She could even see a few of her kind on the battlefield. Some fleeing, some being protected, some trying to aid others... and then some fighting. _Holding their ground_. Pearl looked with pride as she saw a pearl fight against her Howlite and was pulling off some incredible moves. That pearl was extremely agile, and it impressed her how far they could go. And with that to motivate her, she went in with a spear in hand and started to show all of them what a Pearl at its peak could do.

* * *

Black Pearl relentlessly attacked in a flurry of blows and kicks, swiping and scratching Howlite's armor. The silver Gem could only block, not because of the cyborg's speed or her technique, but only because she herself was too distracted to fight back. Black Pearl attacked like a skilled beast, rapid-fire blows launching from all directions, struck with deadly precision and poise. The cyborg's metallic claws dug through Howlite's armor, the ex-prince's white gauntlets ripping into shreds. The silver Gem realized her gemstone was on her forearm, so she started using less of it with her decreased armor and started to block with her legs too.

Howlite thought enough of the repetitive play, as she could already see through Black Pearl's moves. She started to counterattack, by deflecting a punch and leaving her vulnerable. Black Pearl may be a cyborg taught to fight, but she was still a novice, just like her back then. Howlite found that the pearl hybrid still fought the same way as the last time they saw each other. Howlite angled herself and threw a punch, breaking through Black Pearl's defense.

The dark cyborg stumbled back and tried to land front. She barely caught herself, only for Howlite to grab her arm, twist it, and place her foot into her neck. This hold threatened to tear Black Pearl's arm at any moment.

"...is that you?" Howlite asked softly, eyes narrowing at her yellow eyes. They weren't yellow before, and this new change reminded her of Amber controlling Gems.

"It is _I_ , Black Pearl, the harbinger to _your_ destruction," the cyborg stated, her yellow eyes glowing. She calculated how to get out of it, and was planning to charge enough energy to counteract Howlite's grip. "I will eliminate you! As a voluntary emotional response from you destroying me! I have promised to hold a grudge from what you have done to me, and I will fulfill my revenge of genuine anger! _Graahhh_!"

Howlite looked deeply saddened at her words, even though they were robotic and had only _hints_ of vocal depth to them. But her words just reminded Howlite how naive she was back then, and how much of a mistake she made. She should've buried her behind, instead she just kept insisting for her to come back... and she _did_. Just not the same.

"If you're still in there, BP... somewhere... maybe watching," Howlite told the cyborg, her eyes stinging. All of her happy memories back then turned into utter nightmares because of her. And all that grief, all that sorrow, she didn't have much time to show that. "I am _sorry_... for _all_ of this. You were never meant to feel such torture."

Black Pearl's claws suddenly dug into Howlite's arm, stabbing all the way through. Reacting to the pain, Howlite accidentally let loose Black Pearl's arm. Her own leg on her neck reacted quickly to kick, but Black Pearl caught it with her other hand. A chill ran up Howlite's spine, watching the cyborg get the upper hand all of a sudden. Struck with fear, she couldn't move... and just watched, as Black Pearl broke her arm.

* * *

 _"Good!" Howlite exclaimed, dropping from her stance. "You're doing better."_

 _The pearl blushed as she nodded at her master's response, who had wanted to find someone to improve her abilities against, but couldn't find someone who wouldn't cower away from her. As a prince, Howlite could be quite intimidating, but the pearl got the hang of it. She didn't think she would amount to anything in her life, and here she was, sparring with the prince of the White clan. She thought she would just teach Howlite all about their eco-system and be thrown away, but she was merciful enough to keep her around after her life's worth._

 _The pearl got up and dusted herself. She always wanted to be clean, so that she could prove herself to her master that she shouldn't be thrown away for another. She kept herself looking as beautiful as possible, in which Howlite noticed. But she didn't care much about looks to tell her off. She was practical, only wanting the best out of people._

 _And then, the pearl looked around at the empty training room, feeling terrified that all this would be ripped away from her one day. She always had this thought, that Howlite would replace her for another, and after several days, she finally mustered up the courage to ask._

 _"Howlite," the pearl started meekly, unconfident about the question. What if she told her, and the prince would realize she could find a better pearl than her? What if Howlite got the idea to replace her because of this, and her pushing now would only lead to her demise? Pearls weren't supposed to think this way, she knew that, but after living for an extended period of time, she started to... realize. She didn't want to get thrown away. She wanted to spend more time alive, and with Howlite._

 _"Yes?" Howlite asked._

 _"...never mind. It's not important."_

 _She narrowed her eyes at her. "It might not important... but it_ is _troubling you," Howlite stated, "And if you're not focused, you won't be at your best."_

 _The pearl felt her heart stuck in her throat. She had herself stumbling on her words, unable to push herself into saying it. But she had to keep her composure, to show she wasn't broken. "W-When... are you... going..." she finally sighed, knowing it was inevitable. "...to replace me?"_

 _She expected Howlite to turn cruel and tell her the worst answer, to tell her that her life was over and that she was getting another one by the next cycle, to crush all of her dreams and this mesmerizing feeling called life. But the prince looked surprised. Like the idea was ridiculous._

 _"What do you mean?" she asked._

It'd never crossed her mind, _the pearl thought. "I mean... I've seen other Gems... replace their pearls whenever they're dissatisfied. Or if there's a better one out there... And I was wondering... if you'd ever do the same to me."_

 _Howlite scoffed, "Do you think I am "dissatisfied" with your performance?"_

 _The pearl looked at the prince. She stood for a few moments, remembering all of the times she complimented her. "...no."_

 _"Do you think there's a pearl better than you? A pearl I've personally trained?"_

 _Again, the pearl thought. "...No."_

 _"Then, why would I ever replace you?"_

 _"There's... countless of reasons. I could be dissatisfying to you in a way. Or there's a new batch of pearls who are trained to fight. Or I could be shattered on the battlefi—"_

 _Howlite put a finger in front of the pearl's lips, shunning her. She didn't like her fumbling about things unconcerning to her. So she thought of a solution to her pearl._

 _"What if, I made a promise?" Howlite proposed._

 _"Promise?" the pearl repeated, like it was a new idea._

 _"Yes. I would say... I promise to_ never _replace you. And you will always be_ my _pearl."_

* * *

The cyborg pushed Howlite's foot out of the way, sending her tumbling into the ground, with her limp arm flailing around. The break started midway between her elbow and her shoulder, and it rolled around where it wasn't supposed to go, flopping aimlessly. Howlite gasped as she held her arm, a pulsing sensation running up her shoulder that screamed all over, giving her a headache. She felt as if getting her arm chopped off, except... she could still feel the rest of her arm in _agony_.

"More trash talk: I told you I would take my revenge," Black Pearl announced, stepping towards her. The clashing of a few Gems went around her, and without even looking, she punched a Revolution troop in the face, before going on for Howlite. "Now, here we are. At the terminus. Where I will resolve my emotional response and go back to things were, except I would be traumatized by the horrors I've committed in this act."

Howlite inwardly thanked the stars that Black Pearl didn't break her left arm, which had her gemstone, or she would be done for. And she felt like it was stupid that she had her arm broken by the person she had defeated long ago, training for so long to reach perfected skills. But she hadn't used her mastery over energy yet, which kind of enforced the fact that she was disappointed she couldn't use her other arm to fire attacks.

Howlite got up from the dirt, creating a sphere of light in her hand. The silver Gem tossed it at Black Pearl, who easily dodged it.

"Arrogant response: Hah. What kind of attack was that?" Black Pearl asked.

Howlite brought herself up and put on a stance, trying to adapt to the dead weight in her right side. With Black Pearl standing in front of her, just watching her weakly move around because of her stiff confidence, Howlite took advantage of her programming and aimed her free hand at the cyborg.

FWAAAAASSHHHH! A white wave of pure energy engulfed the ignorant cyborg, spanning a few feet in width and in height. A few Gems backed away from the concentrated blast, looking at Howlite and was surprised her arm was... _twisted_ , in an ugly way. They went back to their fight, and Howlite was left to fend off on her own, since Pyrite had other plans for not being there for some reason. As her blast died down, she glanced to the side, to see Pyrite dealing with jaspers and quartzes, most of the Gems in her style. A lot of brute strength.

Howlite huffed as she looked back to her handiwork, finding a shallow trench where her energy wave was, and smoke and dust simmering out of it. By the end of the trench, she could see a body caked in the sand.

"Not destroyed _yet_... _But_ ," the silver Gem panted. She held her arm and darted for the body. She arrived and kicked off the sand, finding that the cyborg was still in one piece, with some crackles of electricity emanating from her. "Are you fine _now_?" she wondered.

Howlite knelt down to pull Black Pearl out of the sand.

"Maybe we could fix you up... Pearl might like you. Or she'd get jealous of your modifications..." she said to mostly herself. She frowned almost instantly, her gaze darkening. "No. How could _anyone_ be jealous of you? You've lost your personality... You've lost that life... You're not _you_ anymore... You're _already_ dead..." Howlite caressed the cyborg's cheek, her skin still feeling the same as she first did that to her.

It was so frustrating. This wasn't the same person. That pearl was gone. All that's left was a program running her dead body. But, no... There was still something. There was still a glimmer of hope.

 _"...except I would be traumatized by the horrors I've committed in this act."_ Black Pearl had said.

She would be traumatized? By killing her? Why?

There's still _her_ inside, right? Could it be, that her pearl was still in there?

* * *

The demigem felt odd as he watched Howlite cradle Black Pearl in her arms. The same Howlite who he taught how to hug. The same Black Pearl who kept saying that he was her master. It just didn't really click to him in what relation they had to each other until now. Even though, he already knew that Howlite had been Black Pearl's master, and how the cyborg kept obsessing over her revenge at the ex-prince. But he never really saw it until he _saw_ it. It seemed like some imaginary concept that Black Pearl made up, and now that they were with each other, it was real.

He had just charged into battle, and the first thing he encountered was this scene. Howlite had her arm broken, then blasted Black Pearl, and was now bawling that she hurt the cyborg. Steven didn't understand, only knowing that Howlite had been Black Pearl's master once, and that the dark cyborg had wanted revenge ever since. And yet, Howlite had a different response. Instead of treating Black Pearl like a nuisance like he expected, Howlite treated her seriously and was as if she had been a close friend.

Steven left them at that, returning his focus to the battlefield. Black Pearl didn't seem to be in any harm.

He watched as Gems duke it out, and then noticed the giant statue crying in the midst of it. He didn't know what it was, but it looked familiar to him. He'd seen it before...

Her face.

The closed eyes, similar nose and giant frivolous hair.

It was the same one as the woman in the picture he found in Lion's di-mane-sion. That picture belonged to his mother. With the man with a hot dog in his mouth, and that man looked like... well, an older version of him with a bald spot and beard. But the woman, his mother, Rose Quartz... this statue was her. She was crying... Ruby said something about his mother's healing tears. Was this what she meant? Were these the healing tears? Those Gems battling in the fountain, they were using it to their advantage.

Why didn't anyone tell him that the giant statue, this whole time, had been his mother? Why did they cover it with a giant tarp? Why keep it a secret? Did Lapis know? She didn't seem that much bothered when she spotted it while they were flying. It was like she knew...

"Steven!" Kyanite's voice pulled him into reality. "Steven!"

"W-What?" he immediately reacted, eyes widening in full attention. He looked around. They were still clashing against each other. The fight getting worse and worse. He could sense things. He could see flickers of the lands turning into darkness, and white souls slowly sucked into the air like smoke trails. Then, _Death_ itself was up there, _collecting_. Steven looked back down, back to reality, and glanced up to see Lapis Lazuli taking its place. He narrowed his eyes, shaking his head.

"... and you zoned out, in the middle of a _warzone_..." Kyanite told him, for some reason squeezing his hand. An explosion roared above their heads. "...twice." she added.

"Uh, yeah," he took his hand back from her, going back to the mission. Sweat poured over his pale face. "Quick question... did you know about the statue?"

"Everyone knows about the statue, Steven," she said, looking at the gray monument. "It's a fountain built after your mother, Rose Quartz. Why?"

"Nobody told me." he answered, upset. He wiped his forehead, the sickly feeling churning in his stomach. He waved that thought away and turned to Kyanite. "We have to end this war. Gems are _dying_..." He clenched his hand, getting even more determined. "Ruby said, that her plan would be to retreat. Because she thinks we can't beat them. And... I think, it's not about that. It's not that we can't beat them. It's not that she's scared that we're the ones in a disadvantage. It's that this fight will be a major loss to everyone. Destruction running rampant, and then there is no big evil guy, and it's just us fighting each other... We have to retreat so that all the innocent don't have to fight. So that all of us don't get into harm's way."

Steven looked at Kyanite, and found that some Gems had stopped by to listen to him. That surprised him as he thought he was only talking to Kyanite about this. And he felt embarrassed that anyone other than the people he's close to heard his "speech". The other Gems that listened to him nodded in assent, turning to the big portal to their new safe haven. It was being guarded by a few quartzes and rubies, some of which fused into another, but smaller, giant and was being hit with a brunt of the Revolution opals' arrows.

"We... We'll have to take charge to the portal, and defend that point." Steven pointed at their way out. "Find and bring in the other Gems that are uninformed and get them to safety. And then we'll close the portal and this battle will be over."

"But if we flee, won't they attack again?" a Gem with a rusted sword asked. "If we win now, the battle would _truly_ be over. They won't attack us again!"

"And by winning in your definition, you would be destroying other Gems. Thereby, destroying what's left of us on Earth." Steven countered. He didn't know where that came from, but it made sense to him at least. And the rest of them understood. Steven looked at them expectantly, waiting for them to go to the portal, before realizing they were awaiting _his_ order. "Oh! Uh... meeting adjourned." he fumbled to them. They stood silently.

"...meeting adjourned?" another one repeated in confusion. Steven cringed at his horrible choice of words.

His awkwardness was soon saved by a jasper. "Well said by the prince!" the bigger Gem exclaimed, raising her sword. "Meeting adjourned!"

The rest raised their weapons. "Meeting adjourned!"

And they rushed to the portal's location, charging at Revolution Gems with a battle cry.

Kyanite looked at Steven. " _Prince_?" she chuckled.

The demigem shrugged. "Well, _technically_... Just prince of the Crystal Gems, I guess."

She frowned at that. "...the Crystal Gems..." she mumbled, looking off into the battlefield. Garnet left, Amethyst was nowhere to be seen, Pearl was just poofing Gems left and right, and Rose Quartz is right in front of her and also simultaneously crying in the background.

Steven brought forth his shield and made his way to the portal with Kyanite, following the troops' lead. He threw his pink disk at an unsuspecting golden Revolution Gem. That Gem was Pyrite, who got knocked into the ground immediately after that blow.

* * *

From above, it looked like little shimmers of color were rushing to a red rip in the dimensions. And upon seeing Steven rush in with them, the blue ocean goddess subdued a troop of flying Gems and their rocket platforms with a swish of her water wings. She then swooped down to meet up with the rest, all the while spraying bullets of ice at the darker, less vibrant, Gems. They always seem to know where to go, and not accidentally hit one of her own.

Lapis collided with the ground, and dusted herself off as if it was a perfect landing.

She turned to the others, who were looking at her apprehensively, expecting her to summon hurricanes and thunderstorms. Instead, she carried on normally like the rest of them, which was still a strange thing for them to see. She was still affected by Gem destabilizers, and the black under her eyes were still heavy on her. Her breaths were getting tired quick, as she held her chest. That battle-hungry feeling was stirring up inside her again, wanting to let out more power.

A dangerous and dark aura flailed around her discreetly, until Steven and Kyanite came in and secured their position on the portal. That faint black aura went away.

All the available heavy hitters were there.

"So..." Lapis started, catching her breath. She held her chest a lot, to which Steven noticed, and it looked like she was _dying_ inside. The dark under her eyes didn't help negate the fact, and Steven wanted to tell her to rest. "...this has been _quite_ the birthday."

Luckily for Steven, he didn't need to ask it, as Kyanite intervened. "Are you alright?" she asked concernedly.

"Yeah..." she breathed, "...doing good."

A few Gems noticed her fatigue and it reminded them that Lapis wasn't a god; that they couldn't rely on her all the time for times like these. They had to help out too. She had her limits, she can get tired. She wasn't a god. She was just like them, pushing herself to greater peaks, fighting the battle as a one-Gem army.

"We need to coordinate our attacks. And seal off any vantage point they could have." Lapis told them. "This battle is to retreat, like Ruby's mission for us. We'll have to hold off to live another day. All of us. Not a single one gets left behind." she stated begrudgingly, wanting to leave with Steven, Kyanite and the others already. She never liked Gems, but they had grown on her... at least, the ones on her turf. She had to make sure _nobody_ gets left behind.

"Any thoughts to coordinating our attacks?" a grunt ruby asked.

"We'll need a good defense for the rest of the time. They're playing up their game as we speak. Pearl is on the field with them, and she's awfully efficient." Lapis hovered and scanned the area. "Build more up front, they're mostly on this side." she pointed out, "And leave the rest to even out. And you Gems with the ranged weaponry," she looked down at Berry and other ranged attackers. "Get in the portal. You'll be safe from harsher attacks and you can still shoot from there.

The archers and shooters nodded and went into the portal without argument. They had also thought best to get in the portal, but didn't want to look like they were cowering from the fight. Now that they had permission to enter, they relaxed a bit and went to their places, arrows still drawn.

"Huh, directing people is tough work..." Lapis remarked, wiping her forehead with her arm, since she had no hand on that one. Just a water hand to replace it.

"I think... maybe you should go to the portal. Get some rest," Kyanite advised.

"Doesn't sound like a good idea." Lapis replied, her eyes focusing on the front, where Revolution troops were rallying up and grouping together. "Besides, we still need to bring those people back. We need a head count. Can one of you go in there and count? I remember having a hundred and sixty-three in total."

Steven and Kyanite looked at each other. Kyanite sighed and took action. "Why don't you do it instead? You look like you're in need of a break—"

"It doesn't matter to me. I can handle myself." Lapis finally said. She looked at the younger ones, and they stared back worriedly. She sighed, "Look, I've been doing practically nothing for the past hour. And now I'm tired because someone kept using Gem destabilizers on me for ten minutes straight. I don't need a break. All of these guys standing guard with us right now need a break more than me. They're physically exhausting themselves. I haven't used that much energy fighting."

"You know, being hurt that long could be mentally exhausting." Kyanite said, having had experience of that during last year when Amber frequently corrupted and uncorrupted her like it was a game. The process was terribly painful, and it kept going for hours and _hours_. "And all that stuff you just said is _begging_ for you to take a rest."

Lapis narrowed her eyes at the child. Steven intervened, "Lapis, I know you could go whenever you want. But if you keep going, you keep pushing... you'll unleash an energy. I can sense... _death_ in you."

"Well, because I died. I guess." Lapis scratched her head.

"No. I mean, the souls of the dead are being sucked into you." he said.

Lapis was completely lost with this. "Huh?"

"I saw it. Dead Gems on the battlefield. I could see their souls. They were being pulled to you. And when that happened, it looked like you took over Death's place." Steven informed.

"You mean..." The ocean Gem brought forth a dark, void aura, in which Steven almost fainted from its deathly energy. Kyanite could hear the screams of the dead within the aura. The air was intoxicated with the rotting smell of corpses. Gems stepped back from Lapis, disturbed by the aura around her. Lapis herself felt better having it around her, all of her souls released from being trapped too long. "...this power?"

Steven could feel himself blacking out from all the pain in that aura, and fainted.

* * *

Pyrite groggily went over to Pearl, holding her head in pain. She got hit in the head with a very specific weapon, a glowing pink disk of death that normally decapitates Gems. And she _survived_... with only a bruise to show. She made her way over to the white knight, eager to tell her of what happened.

"Uh... Pearl? I have a hard head," Pyrite told her in a whining tone.

Pearl raised a brow at her. "And, it... protected you?" she responded, noticing how she held her head in pain.

"Yeah. My head is ringing." the golden Gem said. "Have you gotten hit with Steven's shield? Because that thing is hard as heck!"

"You got hit with that shield?" Pearl's eyes widened, "How are you still standing?"

Before she could respond, a green blur sped over to them, caked in acid. The speed demon held Jade up by the scruff of her neck, like a trophy to show the Pearl. The white Knight looked aghast at Jade's appearance, who was hanging limply with her legs and right arm twisted and a few gashes to her stomach and arms. Emerald was looking... better than Jade at least, with the speedster's suit damaged beyond repair, leaving her covered with the tattered remains of the tailored suit, and acid being spread around her. The speed demon tossed Jade onto Pearl's feet.

Upon seeing Emerald's face, not hidden behind a mask anymore, Pyrite felt a sense of familiarity from her. She'd seen her before, way back then, five thousand years ago. " _You_... I know you..." she informed, eyes narrowing to squint. "...I've seen you before..."

Emerald looked at the golden Gem, and chuckled with cold, horrifying eyes. The speedster recognized Pyrite, and found it humorous that Pyrite didn't remember her as vividly as she did. After all, she was there when Pyrite was first created. "Of course you do. Why would you forget _me_?" In an instant, Emerald closed the gap between her and Pyrite, and lifted her with surprising strength. "I would be _so_ disappointed if you didn't remember who _I_ was."

Pearl pulled out a spear and went for a stab from behind. Emerald easily sped around it, and instead impaled Pyrite on the stick. The golden Gem caught her voice in her throat, screaming silently as a chunk of her was gone. Pearl skidded back, letting her weapon vanish to free Pyrite, and went over to catch her. The golden Gem slumped into the white Knight's arms, who heard something crack the more Pyrite moved. Pearl looked down at the hole in Pyrite's body, and saw scattered shards of a dull, golden stone.

"Damn it..." Pearl glanced over to Rose's fountain.

"I haven't heard her answer back who I was to her..." the speedster muttered, before kicking them down. Pearl yelped as she took the brunt of it. "You want to play protector? Remember what I said, warning you about what I'd do if you come into my plans?" She raised a hand, vibrating it at supersonic speeds, before realizing she couldn't hit the right amount of speed with it. Nevertheless, she went with it, striking Pearl into the ground with a vibrating fist.

Emerald towered over them, looking around to see Gems frightened, since they had seen her display what terrifying power she had before. The speed demon poofed all of them without breaking a single sweat. If they did anything against her, they'd all die. And she knew that as well as they did.

Emerald heard the sound of a projectile coming her way. And she was almost too late, as the instant she moved, a white energy blast skidded off her shoulder. The speedster turned to look where the blast came from, and her answer came in the form of a silver Gem with a broken arm.

"Really?" Emerald asked, chuckling at the rest. That was their attempt at trying to pull her off of Pearl? Doing nothing? Bravo. But he was more focused on Howlite now more than anything. "All of your best are _wounded_. How do you expect yourself to fight? Right now, you're all _nothing_ compared to me."

Howlite struggled to keep herself up as she charged an energy sphere in her hands. "Why don't we see... for real, who would win?" she provoked, which Emerald knew was bait, but she took it out of curiosity for what she had in store for her.

Emerald zipped, striking down Gems left and right as she approached Howlite. The speed demon smashed her fists through each and every one of the Gems she passed, all of them never getting a chance to hit her. They were down before they knew it. Howlite threw her hands at Emerald, and the speedster ducked under what she thought was an attack, and uppercut Howlite in the chin. The silver Gem rolled back with the punch, before getting back up again in a graceful fashion.

"I win. Obvious enough." Emerald said.

The speedster was about to continue in her assault, when she felt something creeping from behind her. Emerald turned and kicked, and an old man was there, blocking the speedster's attack. The speed demon grunted and relentlessly attacked, shooting her fists at bullet speeds. The old, white Gem just took his attacks head-on without budging.

Emerald paused, looking at who she was fighting. "Oh. It's _you_..."

Moonstone cracked his neck. "Yes. _Me_."

The old Gem put on a stance, but Emerald blurred and ended up a few hundred feet away from Moonstone. The speedster knew she couldn't damage Moonstone, as he would just absorb all her attacks. And she knew he couldn't hit her until she ran out of energy, so it was gonna be a stalemate. The speed demon, not wanting to interact with Moonstone, decided to bail. She left a green trail of energy, vanishing from their sight.

* * *

Emerald sped over to her comrades, and found Lapis holding an unconscious Steven.

"We need to leave. _Now_." Emerald stated as she looked at what was left of their powerful force. Ruby was nowhere to be found. Black Pearl was gone. Steven passed out for some reason, and all that was left were Lapis and Kyanite for her to work with. And with Moonstone on the other end, they wouldn't last. "Pearl's forces are grouping up away from us. If we leave now, they wouldn't have any time to stop us."

"Not yet," Lapis said. She looked around for a Gem and signalled for one to come to her.

"What do you mean?" the speedster replied. "What's left for us to stay here for? We don't have _anything_ left, that's what."

"The others aren't here yet." Lapis informed, handing Steven to a Gem for them to escape. She watched the two disappear into the portal, into their safety net. "There are Gems littered over the place. We can't leave them. They're injured, or poofed, or cracked, and I'm not going to turn my back on them."

"It's alright. We can sacrifice a few." the speed demon told her. A few Gems heard this, and immediately began to fume at the speedster, but they couldn't do anything to her because she was practically untouchable. Their only hope to bring back the others would be for Lapis to negate Emerald's statement.

"Are you _crazy_?" the ocean Gem demanded. "We can't _sacrifice_. We can't let our kind die here, or get taken away to some prison in the Revolution."

"So, you want to stay here and die with them?" the speedster asked. "We have to leave _now_."

"If you're so quick to leave, then why don't _you_ do it?" Lapis sniped back.

Emerald glared, which Lapis retaliated with as well. Both eyes full of dark fires, cold to the touch. After while, the speedster grunted, before speeding to the portal and disappearing into it. Lapis sighed, looking back to her Gem troops. A jasper nodded at her.

"You did the right thing," she reassured.

"Yeah," Kyanite said. "We'll save more this way—"

* * *

"We need to attack." Pearl stated, holding Pyrite's glitching body. "The whole point of being here is to take them! If we don't, then this would be all for nothing! All our sacrifices, all the dead!" She turned to her group. "We can't back down, and we can't let them escape! Or else all we've done here would be in vain!"

"Pearl, you're being angry!" Moonstone stated, picking up all of Pyrite's pieces.

"Of course I am!" Pearl responded, "We're _losing_! And the only thing we're here to do, we couldn't do it right!" she turned back to face the rebels from a hundred meters away. "And with Lazuli with them, there's no way for us to overpower their forces!"

"Wait! Listen!" Howlite went in between them, her teachers. "They can't escape without the portal! If we can close the portal, they'll be stranded here! We'll be able to take them!" She raised her hands, the energy she built up since the last few minutes was ready. For Pyrite, for Pearl. She urged herself to go on, and point her hands at her target. "And I know _what_ to hit for the portal to close!"

Pearl immediately straightened. "You're going to poof Kyanite?"

Howlite looked at Pearl. The two had an intense stare, before Pearl nodded, giving her the go. It would be their only chance...

* * *

The beam travelled faster than they could move.

The white energy blast slammed into Gems that were in the way, and forced them to poof due to the shock. And the attack finally made its way to Kyanite, who had just finished telling Lapis her assurances. The energy beam struck Kyanite in the side. The young Gem widened her eyes in surprise, as she felt herself falling apart. Her arm detached itself first, and then her body split in half, then her remaining arm got cut off.

Kyanite fell forward, blood splashing everywhere. She couldn't feel anything.

Lapis stood there, paralyzed, watching Kyanite's body lay there, before she vanished. And the portal closed up with her. Then, immediately, Lapis was engulfed in anger. She roared and her deathly aura sprang back to life, scaring Gems around her. She drove her foot into the dirt, getting herself leverage to leap, but all of that stopped.

In fact, everyone stopped.

A dark, looming energy had taken control. From the heavens above, darkness rained upon them, turning the afternoon into night and made them frozen in shock. Pearl could feel her head pounding, her gemstone burning up and becoming heavier. Howlite fell over, her left arm pinning the ground. Lapis felt a weight on her back, as heavy as the skies, and fought against it. She kept herself up as much as she could, watching everyone fall to the ground, getting pinned to the Earth because of their Gems. Moonstone had trouble, since this wasn't a physical attack, he couldn't absorb any kinetic energy that was pushing him down. Lapis finally ceased, her back burning bright and almost causing her to pass out on the ground.

And from the empty land between the two forces, the source of the ominous energy revealed itself. Darkness coalesced into a spiral of bleak gray, before it opened itself outwards and revealed to be a cape. And wearing that dark cape, was _the_ most powerful Gem on the planet.

Onyx had arrived, her red dotted eyes staring from the blackness in her hood.

 _'I presume everyone knows who I am.'_

Her voice was telegraphed through everyone's heads. A soft, chilling voice that echoed in the walls of all their thoughts. It was archaic, had a queenly feel to her words. And that was because she was angry.

 _'If not, I suppose there won't be any harm in telling you all who I am,'_ the telepath uncrossed her arms for gratuitous effect. In fact, she was facing both sides at the same time, to address every single one of them in person. She was in their minds, molding what they saw to be Onyx facing their way. _'My name is Onyx; the most powerful Gem on this lovely planet. Unlike all the rumors speculating it to be a certain someone, I'm here to show you that is false. As you can see, Lapis Lazuli is kneeling before me. Unfortunately, it could not be said the same for Emerald, as he—or she, whatever—may not be here.'_

Lapis gritted her teeth at the sight of Onyx. The bastard had killed her while thinking she was the fusion Jet. Why wouldn't she hold that against her? Breaking her mind and body, mutilating her, and giving her visions of things that made her question reality most of the day. It was _infuriating_.

 _'Ah, yes, Lapis Lazuli, you came back from the dead. How pleasant,'_ Onyx spoke to her, and only to her, about this. _'I'm sure you're still mad. As I am right now. But you dying is technically your fault. Had you not intervened and been an annoying bugger, you would've been spared. And now, you're questioning if all reality is real, and have come to the conclusion that if it was fake, then what the hell—why not for the moment? But, I have come to tell you a genuine answer! This is real. See? I can be a good person. Now, when I release you, don't be a fool and attack. Steven loves you very much and I can see that. Wouldn't want to die again, and on his birthday no less, would you?'_

However, she simultaneously sent another message to everyone else.

 _'Well, as all of you may notice, I am a Gem. And I have not set foot in your feud. And that's because I'm too powerful for you. If I had taken the side of one of you, then that side would definitely win. I didn't want it to end that quick. But, since my daughter, Kyanite, has been brought to the ground. I've decided to step in and take my daughter back from your foolish squabbles. And I see Garnet has also come to this point, not choosing a side and taking the day off. I will be taking Kyanite with me. And since she sided with the rebels, I'm biased to it. So, I'll let them off to escape, just as planned.'_

Onyx waved her hand, and her hold on the rebels' gemstones was released. Lapis rose first, glaring at the telepath. In her mind, she could feel the equivalent of Onyx giving her a shrug. The dark, powerful Gem raised her hand, and Kyanite's Gem flew from the ground and into her palm.

 _'Go on. Escape without my daughter's help.'_

Lapis looked around, seeing that the portal was gone, their one main exit. An idea formed in her mind, and she wasn't sure if Onyx had planted it there, or if she made it on her own, but she used it anyway. The ocean Gem felt all molecules of water in the vicinity, and created an ice floor under the rebels' feet. She then lifted this platform into the air, taking her and a hundred other Gems to the sky.

Onyx turned to the other side.

 _'You'll have to wait until they're at their destination before I release you. It may take time, but it's the least you could do after poofing Kyanite.'_ she said.

Onyx turned to the other side.

 _'Go on then. I'll wait.'_

Lapis looked at Onyx bemusedly, before taking her ice platform higher into the sky, and zipping off into the direction of the Kindergarten, which for some reason she knew... probably because of Onyx.

After a while, the rebels left, as they had planned, and Onyx finally let go of her hold on them. The Revolution sat there at a loss, feeling miserable and dejected that the whole point of them being there was to capture Gems into the authority. But they found some Gems lying around on the battlefield, not yet picked up. So, they had to feel complete with that.

Onyx turned to Pearl.

 _'Oh, and one final magic trick!'_ she exclaimed, feeling satisfied now. She didn't feel as angry before, but she was bottling it up really well. For her "magic trick", Onyx faded away, vanishing into nothingness, like she was never there. _'I was never here! I've been in your imagination the whole time! Scarrryyyyy!'_

And then, that feeling of peace, welled up in everyone, a signal that Onyx was no longer in their heads. Howlite held her head down in shame, being the one who shot Kyanite down and made everyone fail the whole mission. Moonstone consoled her and brought Pyrite and Jade onto his shoulders to heal at Rose's fountain. A few other troops kicked the dust, feeling frustrated about this. Meanwhile, Pearl flopped down onto the ground, disgruntled, but amused at her ex-comrade.

Pearl glared, but it faltered with a chuckle. Onyx screwed them over entirely by just _being_ there. And if this wasn't confirmation that she was on their side, then she didn't know what is.

"God, damn it, you."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hm. Seems this Author's note is gonna be eventful. I mean, there are stuff down there—Nah, I'm just kidding. Not a lot for me to put any notes on. Why is this even here?

Oh, you may be wondering... What the heck kinda ending is that?

Well, folks, it's a deus ex machina! A _gem_ ex machina, if you'd like! Teehee... Okay, that was corny with cheese on top. To be honest, it's not really a Deus Ex Machina, since its definition is: "an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel." (Defintion from google.) Deus also means... god, I think? So, yeah... this chapter was building up to a plot device if you saw the chapter title.

It's intentional. Made to look like a troll. That's my lame excuse.

* * *

New episode stuff:

 _Drop Beat Dad:_ Marty's a dick. Steven is strong. Sour Cream is dope. Greg is rich.

 _Mr Greg:_ Greg is a bazzilionaire! No need to worry. He's got all expenses covered. Drinks are on him. Pizza is on him. Peridot's tablet is on him. And Pearl... um, be a wingman to Greg, I guess.

 _Too Short To Ride:_ Peridot is Magneto's daughter confirmed. Sorry, Wanda, you may be all-powerful with your magic and sorcery, but Peri's got the magnetic abilities. (And, uh, sorry other unnamed daughter of Magneto, I don't really know you.) ((insert sneaky Amedot and Lapidot or Pearlidot or Stevidot or Jaspidot or Garnidot or... holy shit, Peridot has chemistry with everyone. What about Connie?))

* * *

Replies I have for guests:

 _Thatoneguy:_ Well, congratulations! I'm sure you found lots of inconsistencies that I've known myself to have! And, about Black Pearl, sure! Have some vague, but not the whole, backstory!

 _Now, there are three guests named Guest. I will answer them from oldest to newest. (Make names for yourselves, lads.)_

 _Guest 1:_ Adding Garnet to the list then.

 _Guest 2:_ Adding Steven to the list.

 _Guest 3:_ Adding Garnet _again_ to the list.

* * *

Breaking News: It's not really a Deus Ex Machina. But it's a save.

Next Chapter's Title: "Message Received"

* * *

Character faves

Garnet: 5 (she's a fookin legend. Onyx is just playin with ya. She was never here to begin with.)

Lapis Lazuli: 3

Peridot, Ruby, Sapphire: 2

Amber, Amethyst, Kyanite, Steven: 1


	52. Chapter 50: Message Received

Chapter 50: Message Received

* * *

The Revolution, a week later...

In the Amedot ship, Pearl was working on the items she scavenged on the battlefield. And with her in the room were two Gems: a green ninja and a royal warrior.

Jade scratched her cheek, which had been itching ever since Emerald hit her there. The battle was an utter disappointment to her and just fueled her humiliation. Even though others praised her for being able to compete with Emerald with his/her speed, it still wasn't enough, she didn't beat her/him. When she finally thought she had the upper hand, Emerald increased his/her speed, not caring of the surroundings anymore, and slapped her around _everywhere_.

It was a total failure. She wished to become better. But there was no way of gaining higher peaks in her physical form, unless... there was some type of _augmentation_. And that secret lies in Pearl's line of work, even though said Gem wasn't interested in it and didn't have any research of enhancing the physical forms of Gems.

Pearl seemed to share the same feeling as Jade of humiliation, but being the leader of that whole department, she felt the weight of the responsibility of a hundred Gems coming down on her, compared to one. She was responsible for everything, and she knew that.

They were able to imprison those few they were able to find littered across the warzone, and used Rose's fountain for their medical purposes. But still, it was a total loss for them. The rebels still got away, and with an almighty deity potentially at their side. There was no way for them to counter that power. Unless, they had a fusion of all their powers, but that would be too risky. Their fusion might just rebel and lean more on the opponent's side. And because of that, sometimes, Pearl questioned if she was doing the right thing. Back then, she was a rebel, and now, she was of authority. What would Rose think of her now?

The white Knight was observing the remains of some Gem shards from the battlefield. And not just any Gem shards, but _Bloodstone's_ shards. It glinted under the intense rays of light, scanners picking up an immeasurable amount of energy in that single piece. She noticed the scanners picking up different energies, like hers, most of the major Revolution players, Ruby, Emerald, and even _Steven's_. And that sparked an idea.

She could use this somehow. Like she had used Amber's gemstone to create Gem destabilizers! There was potential to Bloodstone's leftovers, and she knew it.

Howlite was in the room, leaning against a glass container with Black Pearl laying inside it. The large, semi-transparent box holding the cyborg looked like a coffin. The silver Gem kept staring silently at the hybrid, watching her stay in sleep mode with all the wires plugged into her. It wasn't really feeding her energy, it was there to keep Black Pearl sedated. It didn't work on Gems, but since she was a cyborg, it worked to negate her mechanical implants. If it were a pure Gem, there would be different precautions.

Pearl looked over at Howlite and Jade, noticing them standing around and doing practically nothing. The white Gem glanced at Amethyst's Gem, sitting quietly on the desk, judging her for being in there without permission. But she had done this multiple times already without Amethyst knowing, and even when caught, Amethyst just didn't seem to care.

"So," Pearl turned to the two Revolution Gems, trying to start a conversation to rid of the awkward tension. "How are you guys holding up?"

Jade spoke up first. "They took down all the chaps in the food court. And now there are no chaps. It's not fair." she whined exaggeratedly. They looked at Howlite for her answer, and the silver Gem had a shocked expression. "What?" Jade asked.

"I... thought you were mute," Howlite explained.

Pearl raised a brow at this. How could a teammate not know if one of her own could speak or not? It seemed like poor team building to her. And that would mean she did a bad job at it, being their team lea— _strategist_ and all.

"I can speak," Jade replied, narrowing her eyes at the silver Gem. "I've even spoken to you before."

"I... don't recall," said Howlite. "Maybe you've spoken to Pyrite, because I thought she was crazy to think that while we were fused back when Onyx attacked, you talked to us in our hallucination... and you don't sound the same..."

Jade looked unnerved upon hearing the last part, for some reason.

"It's probably because Onyx mind controlled you," the ninja-like Gem said.

Howlite held her chin in thought. "That makes sense."

Jade glanced at Black Pearl's body, before looking back at Howlite. "Mind telling us about your history with this pearl?" she asked, leaning against the glass container.

That piqued Pearl's interests. "I'd also like to hear that."

"Well... I was a prince." Howlite started, crossing her arms over her chest like it was some kind of barrier against them from getting too near. Or getting too nosy on the subject. "And then White Diamond gave me a pearl, and that was this killing machine. The end."

"Well, that's... rather _mundane_ ," Pearl remarked. "I was expecting something else, considering your reaction to her on the battlefield, and your insistence on watching her sleep... But beggers can't be choosers." she shrugged.

Jade took in what Pearl said, and looked at Howlite accusingly. "You're lying."

"Why would you want to hear it? It's just some old cliche sappy story." the silver Gem said, blushing a dark gray at the humiliation of way back and contrasting with the memories of the recent past.

Pearl raised a brow at that. "Go on."

"I don't need to say anything. I'm not saying anything. You can't make me put words into my mouth." Howlite hurriedly said, before hastily looking for an exit. "I'm leaving, and there's nothing you can do about it." She lit a faint aura and left the place, via flying.

"And that was an official prince," Jade thought out loud. "Hard to tell. Only noticeable from that thin crown she wears. And even then, you'd have to look past the barbaric hair covering it."

Pearl contemplated at the silence, before asking, "Any update on politics?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you know a lot." Pearl shrugged. "You seem to be very keen on it a while back."

Jade sighed, "Well, people are responding well to the new Kronos Quad. But they are still mourning over the six million deaths from last year. Majority of the people affected haven't moved on, and started rioting against the city because it was the grounds of the dead. The rich don't give a crap, since Kronos Quad has land, meaning places to buy and invest again. And also, people are asking why we don't release our technology to the public."

Pearl smirked, "Do you think the public is trustworthy enough to handle our technology?"

"I think they'd be able to reverse-engineer it and create weapons for themselves." Jade replied, "Or destroy the technology we give them because there are still people out there cheap enough to use duck tape to fix their things instead of bringing it to a technician or buying a new thing. Honestly, I think humanity brings more harm than good. And that would also be hypocritical, seeing as that's how they envision us."

"I'm glad we had this talk. We share similar opinions of humans." Pearl remarked, leaning back. "But of course, the humans in the Revolution are far better, and I actually like these people."

Jade leaned her head to the side. "That's because they're more qualified, not stupid, and they're on your side." she looked at Pearl, deciding to flip the question around. "Now, anything on Gems?"

"Well, I can't find any trace signal on where they're at. They're energies are hidden somehow, like it's a trick Onyx might've taught them or something Emerald or Lazuli pulled off." Pearl pulled up a hologram from her gauntlet, and it displayed a globe with little dots on it. "There _are_ still two hundred Gems left out there. I've sent squads to bring them in. And maybe, after giving those a tour around this place, they would probably consider this place than out there."

Jade nodded.

The ninja crossed her arms and contemplated at the ground. "I've always had this theory on my mind to end the war. I've heard it from some humans here who've experienced it and have contemplated on how to stop it. And one man proclaimed that, to end a war, you needn't an army. You just need one man, a bullet, in the right place, at the right time. One man to assassinate a target, and a war would be over with it." she explained, "Though I'm not so sure if it's possible, I do believe it could work. If you're at the right time and place, presumably when the leader is hated the most, even by his subjects, then you could kill her and the war would be over because of it."

Pearl chuckled at her words. She had heard this theory before, and if it had worked or not would only be something she would know herself. "Yes, that could work... But there _is_ one thing you've missed."

"And that is?"

"That theory would only work with humans." the white Knight informed. "We're fighting against Gems who want to be out there. I've heard that their leader, Ruby, is gone. But they're still working. Maybe it's because Lapis or Emerald is taking charge. But for the most part, they themselves believe in what they're doing. They don't need leaders like humans. Well, for the most part."

Jade didn't want to ask, for fear it might sound suspicious, but she took in a deep breath and said, "Are they wrong for it?"

"I... am not sure." Pearl crossed her arms. "I used to do the same thing. The conflict is different now. So, even when taking in both sides, I still think my side is the better."

Before Jade could say anything, Pearl's gauntlet beeped and the hologram switched from a globe to a red-tinted message. The white Gem read the warning, and her eyes widened, before quickly turning into a frown. Jade couldn't read it as quick, since it was backwards on her side of things, so when Pearl rushed out to the exit, Jade had to follow blindly.

With anxiety building up in Pearl's chest, she couldn't help it but fear the worst.

The white Knight dashed across the facilities and skidded to a stop when she reached the outside training grounds. Jade was quickly able to get ahead of Pearl, but paused when she finally knew what was going on.

A tall figure was hovering in the airspace of the Revolution, with a cape billowing in the wind and shades glinting in the sunlight. The Gem's arms were crossed and a focused look could only be deciphered from the small scowl on her mouth. With her puffy square hair, body figure, and assortment of colors, Pearl kenw there was something wrong if she was here.

Garnet.

* * *

The fusion sat across Pearl in the meeting room, leaving herself completely vulnerable. Pearl noticed all signs of openings to attacks, like the tall warrior was begging for her to hit her wherever it felt worst. But she couldn't do that, not when she finally had a civilized talk with the fusion that was lost eleven years ago. Garnet was finally _back_ , and the idea had not settled in Pearl's mind quick. It was slow, not being used to Garnet being around due to not existing for the past decade. And to be honest, Pearl didn't want to say it, but she _really_ felt like that was a long decade. It was like time moved slower than before, because back then, decades can whiz past without them knowing. Now, she could actually feel time in humans' perspectives.

It felt slow.

"So," Pearl began, keeping a calm composure as they sat in this oddly cozy room. The same one that was used to keep Steven and Lapis at bay two months ago. And that meant they were trapped in a glass compartment, with a few Gems standing guard outside. Hopefully, a jailbreak wasn't needed. "Why are you here? Come to tell me something? Because I don't suppose you're going to side with us, even if Sapphire had stated we would win this conflict."

"No. I'm not here to pick sides. But I am here to send a message." Garnet said, before pointing to the chessboard. "Me first or you?"

Pearl stared at the fusion, still not used to her being there, then immediately nodded her head at the fusion. "Go ahead, you." she said, fumbling on words as she had meant to say "you go ahead."

Garnet spun the chessboard around so that the white pieces were on her side, since white pieces always start first. She made her first move. Pearl did the same.

"There are many rules to this game," Garnet remarked, contemplating at the amount of illegal moves she could make.

"Yes," Pearl assented, being rather relaxed since she knew Garnet's future vision wouldn't help. This was a game of coordination and rules, and the strategy had to be intricate. Knowing the opponent's moves won't help if you didn't know how to win the game. And even so, you would have to figure out their game plan, and Pearl knew too many for Garnet to predict herself a win. "It's what I like about it. Everyone is on an even playing field, and it's based on a play of skill and wit, rather than brawn. Even _you_ can't outplay with future vision. If you did, I'll just have to strategize my next moves."

"Hmm." Garnet harrumphed, shushing Pearl. The shorter one felt a bit ashamed that she was boasting her skill at chess, and it probably looked arrogant in Garnet's eyes. The fusion noticed her discomfort from that and said, "Sorry. I didn't mean for you to take it that way. Just... not used to this. _Losing_."

"Yeah..." Pearl felt her pride in this game dwindle with Garnet's unenthusiastic expression. The fused warrior made it seem like the game was beneath her, and that if Pearl won, it wouldn't have mattered. Which made Pearl feel like winning would be a loss, since she thought Garnet wouldn't be opting for a win and would just let Pearl take it. And that wouldn't be fun for Pearl. The only game she was competitive in would be ruined.

"So, according to how this game works..." Garnet picked off one of Pearl's pawns. "...you like playing the commander."

Pearl froze.

"Is that the topic now?" she felt a certain anger spark and used a move to take one of Garnet's pawns off the board. It might've cost her a chance at getting ahead, but it felt good to be taking something from her. Now, they were even. But Pearl got too ahead of herself with that impulsive move that Garnet was able to get an advantage.

"I just wanted to say it. I mean, the others have gotten their fair share of telling you to get the position. Seemed fun." Garnet picked up a piece and took another pawn off the board. "But I decided... it would be redundant." Pearl raised a brow at that. "Seeing as you're already commander of the Gems..." she grinned, "It wouldn't take long..."

"And you're already looking excited," Pearl rolled her eyes. She tried to think of a way to checkmate her, while holding the conversation. "Is that all? Is this what you wanted to tell me?"

Garnet brought her hands together, the tips of her fingers connecting to each other. "I'm gonna be blunt, Pearl," she watched the white Gem maneuver her piece around the board. "You're gonna do something very stupid."

"Can you tell me? So, I wouldn't do it?" Pearl asked, finally placing her knight down. Garnet contemplated at the move, before hoveeing her hand over her bishop.

"I'm sorry, Pearl, but telling you would make the scenario worse... and I mean, a _lot_ more death."

"Are you allowed to tell me that?" Pearl asked inquisitvely.

Garnet ignored that last question, finally placing the bishop somewhere. "I'm not talking about the game. Though, in a few minutes, I'll be the one proclaiming checkmate, if you wanted to know."

Pearl's heart froze. "What?!"

"I think that's all I needed to say." Garnet rested her cheek on the palm of her hand, connected to the elbow resting on the table. "Continue, Pearl. This is your move."

"I don't believe it," Pearl scowled, looking around the board for Garnet's winning piece. She decided it was an unbacked boast, and continued playing the game. "You're bluffing." she concluded, as she picked up a bishop and placed it accordingly.

Garnet took a black bishop piece, which was Pearl's, and she put it in a checkmate against Pearl. "Checkmate."

Pearl raised a brow. "That's mine." she said, as she reverted it to its original place.

"Oh, really?" Garnet challenged, "I could've sworn it wasn't on your side."

The fusion's words clicked into Pearl's mind.

 _...wasn't on your side. the black bishops piece. someone on my side is going to go against me. a traitor. Garnet is using this game as a metaphor for that. but no, she just said she was going to win. and if she represented Lazuli's side, then... no, that can't be right. sapphire said that my side was going to win, and... is Garnet just playing with me? she couldn't have mistook that on purpose..._

Garnet made her move. Pearl did the same. With nothing new to say, Garnet kept at it, somehow keeping up with Pearl and making every good move. About half an hour later, their forces were exhausted.

"I have to say, this was a great battle," Pearl remarked, absentmindedly wiping her face. "I didn't expect you to be this good."

"Hmph," Garnet moved her queen. "Checkmate."

Pearl's blood went cold. She blinked at the chessboard, and there her king was trapped by the queen. She stared at it, hoping it was a trick, before sighing and accepting defeat. Sure, Garnet was surprisingly good, but she didn't think she'd _win_. She was disappointed in herself, jealous of Garnet's beginner's luck, and felt lost that she lost at a game she prided herself in and invested _time_ into.

"Good game," Pearl meekly said, having no words.

From outside the glass, Pyrite had her face pressed up against the transparent wall.

"Woah! That's the first time I've seen Pearl lost!" the reformed golden Gem exclaimed, her optimism still not lost after the war. Beside her, Howlite had been silently brooding, ever since their loss from the Gem battle last week. The silver Gem looked at the golden one, wondering how she could keep herself stable after having her gemstone stabbed into a thousand pieces, mending herself together through Rose's fountain, and finally regenerating a day ago.

"I think that's all the time I have for today." Garnet rose from her seat. "I have other things to do... Oh, and one more thing." The fusion picked off a small tracker on the heel of her boot, tossing it to Pearl. "That trick won't work on me."

The white Gem caught the tracker, finding its circuits already fried from Garnet's electrical field.

"It's already damaged," Pearl informed.

"Yes," Garnet grunted, before hovering into the air. She was about to fly away, when a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Garnet?"

The fusion turned around, spotting Amethyst rubbing her eyes and looking up at her in shock.

"You're... _there_." Amethyst remarked, her eyes still in disbelief. She had just finished regenerating, and heard that something was going down in the meeting room. And she couldn't believe the fusion was actually there. She had been with Ruby and Sapphire for so long, even talked and argued with them, especially Ruby, and never expected that this fusion would come to light ever again. It was a dream come true.

After she had confronted Ruby about fusion back in Connie's birthday, she thought she would never see Garnet ever again.

And there the fusion was, about to leave.

"Amethyst," Garnet floated down, walking over to the tiny, in comparison, Gem. "It's good to see you up and running. That giant form you pulled took a toll, didn't it? Hopefully, you don't use it anytime soon, or else... well, you might be borrowing away the rest of your life energy into it. I recommend not relying on it too much."

Amethyst chuckled, still thinking this was a dream. "Yeah, I figured that too." she shrugged, still in euphoria that Garnet _existed_.

"Well, I better leave now. There is only a window of time left." Garnet turned.

"Wait! I still want to talk to you! About _everything_!" Amethyst felt like a little Gem again, since the last time she saw Garnet, she wasn't the same person. She was a kid, a young Gem, who's still curious about the world. "I wanna talk about all those—" she stopped, looking around at the Gems staring at her and started blushing in embarrassment.

"We can do that later, _leader of the Crystal Gems_ ," Garnet replied, a sad smile brought to her face for some reason. "But for now, I'll need to... _go_."

The fusion drifted into the air, and flew out of the exit, leaving Amethyst behind.

* * *

With Steven and Lapis...

Having some time away from the Rebellion, Steven followed the blue ocean Gem to a walk on the beach. It was calm, peaceful, nobody around to interrupt. They strolled onto a pier, only the oceans and the skies filling their sight by the end of that view. The smell of saltwater hit them immediately, with Steven flinching from unfamiliarity of it. He could practically taste the salt in the air. Despite being around a Gem who's powers revolved around water, he hadn't been to the beaches a lot.

The demigem looked up, watching the dense clouds over their heads. Lapis had used it to block out their Gem signals from the tracker they figured the Revolution was using.

"Lapis..." Steven began, not knowing where to start. He had embarassingly fainted in the middle of the battle, and had missed all of it. All he knew was that Emerald bailed, Onyx had arrived and taken Kyanite, and Lapis had to leave wounded Gems behind because they didn't want to waste Onyx's time. And because of that last decision, Black Pearl was nowhere to be seen, so logic dictated the Revolution had her. He wanted to rescue the cyborg, but he didn't think he had the strength pr even the courage to do so. And with Kyanite, he wasn't sure what to do since he had no idea where Onyx would be. But, he was sure she was in good hands.

Lapis turned her head to the demigem. "Yes, Steven?" she asked, trying to calm her mind from all the stress of being the new leader of the Rebellion. This wasn't an ordinary task, she had to make choices for everyone, and monitor all of the Gems. There had been a lot going on in the past week, since the battle. And even now, as she was taking a break, she was still doing a mission.

"Is it true? What they said back in the base?" he asked about Emerald the speedster, the Gem that gave him a ride to Connie's house. And if he actually did tell everyone to go back and sacrifice Gems for their safety. Steven knew it was expected, but he didn't think it would go that far. They didn't know the things Emerald had done to Pyrite or Jade, or anything the speedster had been hiding about his _plans_.

"Well, if you get the word _Emerald_ , and take away a few letters, put in a few more... you end up with the word _crazy_." Lapis answered, taking a seat at the end of the wooden docks. "You shouldn't trust her, or him. Nobody in the Rebellion does. They all fear him. And with that fear, comes control. And I know, Steven, that you think... everyone has a bit of good in them, even the bad guys. You spared Onyx."

"Oh. Uh, yeah. You could say that." Steven replied, looking around and scratching his head suspiciously.

Lapis sighed. "But Emerald... he's... _diabolical_. People like him, they might help out from time to time, but sometimes... they just can't be trusted with. And yes, it's true. He fled. He ran away from the battle to save himself." she told him. Steven let that sink in. Who, in their right mind, would think of sacrificing their kind on the spot, with no remorse? And what kind of fighter would leave his men in the battlefield as he turned and cowered away? And after all that, still uses the power he has to control people.

Steven realized, Emerald was a bad person.

All his life, he always thought he was siding with good people, who had good intentions, and had reasons for all the thing they did. And Emerald was an exception to that. He was so used to being with heroes that... he just didn't expect to be working with a crazy person the entire time.

"Why are we still... Why is he not kicked out?" Steven asked, a bit more determined to fighting evil instead of Pearl and other innocent Gems. At least he would have a reason to hit Emerald, even though, he knew he wouldn't be able to. "Why do we still keep him around? We should just... go against him."

"Do you think we can?" Lapis retorted.

Steven's jaw tightened at the answer. It was true, they couldn't do a thing to Emerald with his kind of power. Sure, the whole Rebellion didn't like the speed demon, but he had so much power that they couldn't do anything against it. He sighed as he went on to another topic, not wanting to think about how fruitless it was to fight Emerald. He gulped in fear of this next question. He was just curious, and he didn't want to be left knowing nothing.

"Lapis... What was that... _black aura_ back in the battle?" the demigem asked, getting an uncomfortable reaction from the ocean Gem.

"That was..." Lapis didn't really know the answer. But with Steven telling her that souls got sucked into her, she concluded there was a connection to this, and it was with her "death". She didn't know what it was though. It was just extra power to her. But if it made Steven faint, then there was something _wrong_ with this energy. "...I don't know. I guess... something _bad_ , judging from your reaction."

"Yeah. There was just... too much pain and grief and... _regret_." Steven described. He looked down at the ocean in front of them. He finally had one single question, since he didn't want to push it. "What are we here for?" he asked.

Lapis closed her eyes and concentrated on the seas. She sighed, yet again, as if she had been taking weights off her shoulders the entire time.

"I've... kept a secret from you. Peridot, Pearl and I did, actually." she confessed, sighing at the memory. Those were easier times, and she wished she could go back and do things all over again. Except for the dying part. "We actually found... _all_ of Amber's parts." Steven stared at her, the mention at their enemy last year piqued his interests. "Pearl decided to hide them, and she gave me responsibility with hiding _one_ of them."

"Out here?"

"At the bottom of the ocean."

Steven's eyes widened. Then, he felt a bit embarrassed that he didn't expect that. "Oh." he said, and turned to the sight of the seven seas.

Their eyes were glued to the ocean's waters, and out popped a giant yellow stone.

The thing landed in Lapis' arms, and Steven took a step back. "Woah, it's _huge_... I forgot how big it was. And it was _hard_ to beat too." he remarked, enamored by Amber's gemstone.

Lapis held in a laugh, constantly thinking to herself: _I'm above that joke. I'm above that joke. I'm above that joke._ "This... We're going to use this for our secret weapon. If Pearl found a way to create Gem destabilizers from this piece of crap, then surely, we could find a way too." she explained.

"Before we go back to base... Can we... buy some snacks?" Steven asked gradually, hoping it wasn't too much of a favor.

"Yeah, sure, but I'm picking." Lapis nonchalantly replied with a shrug.

"Aww..." the demigem chuckled a bit after that.

The two Gems walked into the town, and Steven's eye caught a big donut. And the store was also called the Big Donut. The two went in, and Steven stared at all of the choices, before reminding himself that Lapis was choosing. The blue Gem walked up to the counter, leaning on it, and the blond cashier greeted with a friendly "Hi, welcome to the Big Donut, how can I help you?" and a wave of a hand.

"Hi... Can I buy out the whole store? We're going to have a party tonight." Lapis told the cashier, and upon hearing those words, both Steven and her started freaking out. Steven's grin widened and his eyes brightened at the thought turned into reality.

"The... The _whole_ store?" Sadie stammered, "I don't think... This shop is gonna be..."

"C'mon..." Lapis pulled out a wad of cash from her pocket. "I'll pay you. All expenses for today."

* * *

The Rebellion...

The Gem camp hadn't been doing so well after residing in the Kindergarten of all places. They had creepy vibes from the place, and made rumors that some of the Injectors were still running and creating Gems. The Gem who believed it all pointed to Emerald for the cause of this, and most of the Rebellion agreed, but at the same time, were still unsure about the condition of the Injectors. They were all deactivated, the ones they found at least. But still, they couldn't help but feel ominous with the Kindergarten.

The Rebellion had no hope in Emerald's leadership, even though they did as he said, out of fear of his power. They counted on Lapis Lazuli to lead them in this desperate time, wishing that she would return after discussing with them about a secret weapon. The scientists of the Rebellion all banded together for Lapis' secret weapon, while were also forced to slave away for Emerald. It wasn't really the Rebellion they had wanted, with Ruby no longer in control, and Lapis taking the most votes for leader, winning 52 percent of the Gems' vote. The others voted for Emerald out of fear he would kill them. It seemed that, with Ruby out of the picture, Emerald had taken advantage of it.

And even with Lapis as their leader, Emerald was still in control most of the time. But Lapis was more appreciated among them. A few Gems had recalled rumors from Homeworld about the Emerald scientist, saying that he experimented on Gems and turned them into weapons. The speed demon was disgruntled by it, and they were lucky to still be alive. He had been getting cranky lately, and all of them thought he would soon snap and kill them all. So, some of them started to leave camp to go with the Revolution, saying that they couldn't work with the speedster breathing down their necks. The majority of Gems stayed because they wanted to uphold their honor, and some of them called the ones who left "cowards" and "traitors".

The ones that had been stated to leave... well, they didn't leave. They shortly got captured by a secret group in the Rebellion and put into cages, because the secret group realized the "traitors" could tell the Revolution their hideout, and they couldn't let that happen. After a while, other rebels found the traitors in cages in newly discovered regions of the Kindergarten, and the whole Rebellion soon knew. And they decided it was best to leave it this way, in case the "traitors" would rat out their whereabouts to the Revolution.

The unsung heroes were left secret, not wanting to be shamed upon for doing what they had to do for the whole Rebellion's sake. Lapis told the Rebellion that she was grateful to whoever captured the "traitors", and apologized to the imprisoned Gems that they couldn't trust them at this time. She hoped they would understand their paranoia during these war times.

Emerald had been just as sneaky, working on his speedster-proof suit yet again. Nobody knew where Emerald went when he wasn't around, but they all figured he was off to repair his suit and do other shady stuff. None of them were quick enough to follow Emerald.

This day was another hard one, as they were still trying to get over the battlefield. Some Gems hadn't talked the whole week. Others wanted to become stronger and scheduled a training session, and forty Gems participated in this, hoping to improve and defend their post. A handful of Gems just wanted to take a break, and led a recreational group to just lay back and enjoy themselves while they still could. Lapis monitored the whole Rebellion, and couldn't keep up, so she had to assign Gems to lead each faction.

In their base, they didn't have a peek of natural light, since Lapis had covered the skies with storm clouds to hide their energy signals. They had artificial light, from their Gems, or burning torches, or electrical lights they created or found in the Kindergarten.

Steven and Lapis Lazuli had finally come back, the winged one carrying a whole store-load of boxes in one water hand. She had paid Sadie handsomely to never speak of this, and Steven reassured it by ordering her to do the same, so it was double-confirmed.

"We brought donuts!" Steven exclaimed, hoping to brighten the mood. He didn't need his emotional sensory to know they weren't at their brightest, and he certainly didn't want to face the emotional pain of all 106 Gems.

"Yes!" A jasper rushed to them, licking her lips, her hands grabby for the snacks. "More tasty delights!"

Lapis laid the hundreds of boxes on the ground carefully, before dispatching her water wings away. The ocean Gem crossed her arms subconsciously, a habit she had developed after hiding her nub from everyone for so long. "Grab a box. Or two. I'm pretty sure only five of you would join in on this feast, already including you and Steven." Lapis informed, watching as the jasper took three boxes and gulped down the dozen products inside.

" _Sweet_!" the bulky Gem remarked.

Steven was about to take a box, when a tall Gem landed on the boxes of donuts. With a cape flowing in the air, and shades... not glinting since there wasn't much light to reflect upon. They didn't recognize the fusion, until Lapis noticed the cape and the puffy square head. Steven completely didn't know who this newcomer was, and was confused at why she looked so much like a ruby, but didn't look like a ruby. Was she deformed, or some other thing?

"Garnet," Lapis greeted. "It's... been a while."

"Not really. We've never formally met, have we?" the fusion joked, as she hopped down onto dead soil. She frowned at the Kindergarten grounds, which was lifeless.

"Nope." Lapis shook her head. "But you probably remember my talks with Ruby, and you're both kindred spirits, which means we'll be talking just like she did." At least, that's what Lazuli had hoped.

The fusion grunted. "Not exactly."

 _Garnet...?_ Steven thought, tilting his head. _Why's that name so familiar?_

* * *

"Soo..." Lapis drummed her fingers over crossed arms. Her eyes lingered around, before ending up on the fusion. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked awkwardly. "Since... that's all you're going to do here. I don't even think you're going to be siding with us, really. Sapphire's got you influenced."

"I'd rather not think about taking sides," Garnet said, clasping her hands together and putting them over her lips. She contemplated forward, observing the little meeting tent they had. There was a box of donuts between Lapis and Garnet, and the ocean Gem was eating them more than the fusion did in the past decade.

Lapis glanced at Steven, who was by her side, eating his share of the donuts. She looked back at Garnet, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, just like them. "So... what are you going to say? Something about the future? Because I'm sure with how you work, you'd be saying something about it."

Garnet had just been to the Revolution, and had made a talk with Pearl. Coming her seemed to be redundant, as she had no clue how to tell them anything, even with her future vision. It seemed to her that whatever Lapis would do, it would get herself trapped... like it was destiny. From the mirror, to the planet, even her own mind and body. History just repeated itself over and over for Lapis, and she would just get stuck in one place, just like how she was brought up.

Instead of focusing on it, she decided to talk about what the ocean Gem was planning now.

"You're thinking of using Amber's gemstone to create Gem destabilizers for your army." Garnet stated, shaking her head gravely. "That won't end well for the Earth. The Revolution will up their game, and then it'll be a competition to whose weapons are more destructive, just like the humans' wars. Except, they aren't stupid enough to trigger their weapons. I hope you aren't too."

Lapis sighed in response. She had debated this in her head since two months ago, and wondered whether or not they should use it. And with Pearl already on the other side, what's a promise anymore? "We already have both hands tied behind our backs, so I thought getting a knife would make it even." the blue Gem said. "I've been meaning to use that line for a long time. Never had a chance to use it."

"Hand pun," Garnet pointed out, which made Lapis groan. "Anyway, you, Steven and Emerald are three of the most powerful individuals on the planet. Onyx and I are more so, but we know better not to participate. Pearl and any of her Gems aren't close to your standards of power, which is why she had made Gem destabilizers, to make it even." Garnet informed. "If you start using their weapons, this will escalate. Sooner or later, you're going to put the world at stake because neither side are willing to reach an agreement."

Steven found that last line a little odd, and kept that concept to himself. Maybe it would work? He didn't know. Something tugged in his mind for it though.

"Of course, to torture me. It's always because she hates me." Lapis replied, releasing a fraction of her anger towards the white Knight. She thought they had buried the hatchet between each other, and now they were at the opposite side again. And now, they were both leaders of an army of Gems. "I saved her life. And this is how life pays me for that _heroic rescue_. A war against her..."

Garnet added, "And a war against Emerald."

Lapis' jaw was clenched firmly, before nodding. "Yeah, I guess... that's also a problem." she admitted, a bit of tension dropped out of her. "Even though I'm the new leader, he still has control over the whole place."

"Sounds familiar," Garnet remarked, remembering Amethyst and Ruby's team relationship in the Crystal Gems for the past year. "Don't let your guard down."

"Haven't," Lapis replied grumpily. "Hopefully you saw something that leads to his demise..." she added, with a hint of cold venom in her voice. _But even then, his demise might mean the death of our Rebellion. I can't fight an army full of Gem destabilizers,_ she thought. _With him, we can at least confirm total wreckage for the Revolution, if they ever decide to attack again._

Steven spoke up out of the blue. "Garnet, you've got Sapphire's future vision, right?" he slowly asked the fusion, not used to talking to her.

Garnet had just noticed how she had forgotten all about him, and how she longed to see him and hold him in her arms. But it had been almost twelve years, and he didn't know her. So, it would've been an awkward reunion. She held her feelings bottled up tight, and then answered his question.

"Yes, I do," the fusion warrior told him.

"Is Kyanite okay?" he asked, "And Black Pearl?"

Garnet held her chin in deep thought, sinking into multiple visions of the future. "Mostly... both are okay." she reassured, simple as that. He was gonna ask if he would see them soon, and she interrupted him before he could even open his mouth. "You'll see them. It's inevitable."

"So..." Steven trailed away. "...you mean, it's destiny for me to meet them again?"

"Yes."

Steven sighed in relief.

A ruby entered the meeting tent, glossy eyes locked on the demigem. The three powerful Gems first noticed that the ruby was tearing up.

"Uh, Steven Quartz, we need you in the infirmary." a ruby informed, weeping tears down her cheeks. She rubbed them away with the back of her hand, but they kept coming. "It's just... s-something went wrong with the training, and-and..."

The demigem stood up and took control of the situation, putting his hands on the ruby's shouders and kneading them. "There, there... I'll see what's happening." he consoled, looking back at Lapis and Garnet, who both gave him a nod of encouragement. He walked out of the meeting tent and went for the infirmary tent, with the scared ruby at his side. "It shouldn't be that bad, right?"

"Yeah, it actually isn't. I-It's just... I've been in the battle... seen some things... I didn't want to... We've lost other rubies, and..." the ruby stammered, trying to stop herself from crying. It dwindled into small sniffles, with Steven patting her back.

With Steven gone, Garnet and Lapis didn't need to hide any fact they didn't want to hear from them. The air between the two became powerfully tense, as they used this time to discuss about the more serious things without the demigem.

"Lapis, listen very closely to me... You have to do whatever I say, so that this war... however ridiculous I'm telling you to do any of this... will end with the least amount of deaths."

* * *

The Revolution...

"Pearl, we're getting a signal out in space."

The white Knight sighed. They still had a whole Gem army to worry about, and now something popped up in space? Oh, if it was Yellow Diamond, then she was going to flip. Garnet had worried her enough with foreshadowings of future events about this Earth war. "What is it?" the Crystal Pearl asked, a bit irritated. Since she was still thinking about Garnet's game.

"It's heading directly to Earth," a scientist informed. "And it just entered Earth's orbit. And it's... a giant, green hand."

The white Gem asked, "Can you track i—"

"Pearl! Pearl!" another scientist exclaimed, running up to the Knight. "We've got a message from far out! We think it's from Homeworld, seeing where it originated from. But we don't know. You have to see this! I mean, _hear_ this."

Pearl felt butterflies in her stomach build up into her chest, making her whole torso feel twisted and uncomfortable. She sighed an apology to the first scientist and promptly followed the second one to the message they had gotten from lightyears away. A group of Gems and a few human scientists were working on a supercomputer, decoding a message.

Pearl glanced at the code, and asked, "What have we got?"

The group of scientists decoded the transmitting signal and a file opened up on their screen.

It wrote:

 _"IT'S NOT ME. I'M NOT ON THAT SHIP. THAT WARSHIP. YOU HAVE TO STOP IT. HOMEWORLD'S ON TO YOU. I'M SORRY. I FAILED."_

* * *

 **A/N: Ya know, bold lettering looks good for alerting readers that a chapter is ending, cause I never use bold lettering while in-story. So, I'm bringing this back. And welp, probably just messed up the hype buildup.**

 **Why did this take so long, you ask?**

 **Well, I have no excuse but to say I procrastinated a lot this week. Played minesweeper, researched on how to play chess, yadda yadda yadda, all that stuff. I also fixed up some stuff on my plans on the next few chapters, because... coherent story, and stuff. AND I'VE BEEN HIDING MY PLANS FOR _HALF A YEAR_ —**

 **And boy, looks like this author's note is gonna draaaaggg.**

 **EDIT: Holy crap, this is _loooonng_.**

Bonus scene:

"You disappeared for some time," Pearl said as she saw Greg walking into the room. "I thought you died because Lapis killed you. But, _eh_ ," she shrugged. "Dead or not, you still got work to do."

Greg sighed, rolling his eyes. "Thanks, buddy."

* * *

New Episode Stuff:

 _The New Lars:_ Steven possessing people through dreams, huh? Sounds like a _certain_ dream demon... Steven confirmed Bill Cipher.

 _Beach City Drift:_ Stevonnie! Racing! Kevin, you bastard, you. Necessary evils aren't entirely necessary.

 _Restaurant Wars:_ Steven is cute. That's all I've noticed.

 _Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service:_ Steven's dream powers are pretty much the focus of every episode now. Next we'll see him venture into the minds of Gems. Actually, that happened in the comics, I think. If you consider adventuring around one's Gem to be one's mind.

 _Monster Reunion:_ Awwww, Centi. So, what I got was the three Diamonds fused and a bright energy turned every Gem on Earth corrupted. Except for Rose and the friends she could salvage, because her shield blocked it. Hmmm.

 _Alone At Sea:_ So, Jasper confesses her love for power. Neat! Actually... not that neat.

 _Greg the Babysitter:_ Rose is adorable! Compassionate to her friends and fierce to her enemies. Especially Funland machinery. They'll always be vile creatures in her eyes.

* * *

Replies to Guests:

 _Rebma:_ (I see what you did there.) It's to cement the idea that Amber, a naturally-occuring Gem, was created... well, _naturally_. Not artificially. She wasn't really stuck there, she was just made there. From tens of thousands of years ago, culminating in that single point. I think it's a pretty good idea. I'm not bragging, but it's pretty good. (Snorts)

 _Daniel:_ You keep up the good work too, whatever you do.

 _my biggest fan:_ Yep, more updates! And I swear, I've seen that threat before... Are you _**Keleficent**_? He/She made the same threat in his/her story _So Easy_.

 _David Blackwood:_ You had to mention Peridot, didn't you? If I say anything more, I'd probably spoil the whole thing. And even now I think I've spoiled the whole thing. Because I actually wrote the spoiler, but deleted it because I don't want any... you know what, screw it. Peridot isn't who you think she is. There, I said it.

And now that you're probably theorizing and thinking what that meant and found a conclusion, I can confirm, she's _still_ not who you think she is. This whole thing about Peridot I've been keeping secret for eight months is so ridiculous none of you will ever guess it.

* * *

Breaking News: Now this chapter's title has a few things about it.

It was originally called "Armaments Race", because First World War references and that it was all about new weapons (this was planned _half a year_ back). But I think Message Received fits the occasion with two meanings. It was Garnet delivering messages to both teams, and the "mysterious" message at the end there.

Also, this was supposed to be named after the episode "The Message", when Lapis warns Steven of Homeworld. But I confused the title with "Message Received", where Peridot successfully messages Yellow Diamond. I was about to change it, but I just find _Message Received_ sounding a lot cooler. And somehow symbolic, due to what I'm about to do. Because I'm gonna do episodes of the show, with a _twist_. And when you finally see the chapters, and look back at this note, you can see pretty much how ironic it is. Because, it is literally ((sentence blocked for spoilers and will be disclosed in future chapter, because I'm that conceited)).

Now that I think about it, I should've named this title " _Hermes_ ". God of messengers and all that.

Next Chapter's Title: **"The Return** "


	53. Chapter 51: The Return

Chapter 51: The Return

* * *

The sky lit up in flashy green, tainting the world in similar color.

Down at Beach City, the projectile heading for Earth was first seen. The ship was shaped into a giant hand, rocketing down into the planet's atmosphere. Citizens of the town started to evacuate, in fear that another Gem catastrophe was going to happen, just like in old Kronos Quad and that one city Onyx had deserted, J-son.

Sadie closed up shop, since there were no donuts to sell anymore. It was all sold out until she could get a restock, which she was told by her boss would come by tomorrow... Frankly because nobody believed that the store had been bought out by a single buyer for a party. So, Sadie took the operative and closed it down due to not having any available sales. If she stayed, it would be useless. What could she sell anyway?

Sadie locked the store's doors with a padlock, before looking up at the "Sorry, we're closed" sign that was hung inside on the glass door. She frowned at that, glancing at the sign that states their opening hours. She pulled a notepad out of her work jacket and scribbled down "no stocks available, whole store bought out", and stuck the note to the door.

"That should do the trick," she told herself, and started to head back home.

The walk back home was eerily quiet, and she didn't see _anyone_ , as far as a tourist trap could go. And everything looked like it had gone through a green filter. Sadie shuddered, finally noticing the silence of an usually loud city. She stopped, looked around, hoping this was a dream she hadn't woken up from yet. First, a customer bought all the donuts in the shop... and _flew_. Second, none of the colors were true. Third, the city was quiet. And finally... there was a giant, green hand heading for the Gem cliff.

Sadie looked down at her hand, and bit her finger.

" _Ow_ ," she whimpered, "that actually _hurt_."

Sadie's eyes widened at the realization, her eyes becoming anxious. It meant this was _real_ , and her hometown was the next target to _another_ Gem event. She _lived_ here, and it was going to get completely wrecked, since the past events with Gems showed a high probability that it will. She wondered if that cyan Gem she talked to a while back had registered with the documents.

Also, she was standing in the middle of a future warzone.

"In _hindsight_ ," she sighed, hunching forward. "How did I _not_ see this coming?"

Suddenly, she was picked up and instantly transferred over to a safe zone, a few miles away from the event. All Sadie saw was a blur for a second, before feeling weightless, and realizing that her feet touched the ground. Which she never consciously left the first place. There was a rush in her body, making her tremble about. She had never felt this amount of adrenaline run through her veins so abruptly. It was like an instant roller coaster ride.

Sadie tumbled around, before looking back at who picked her up.

It was a green-skinned Gem with a white ponytail and mask covering her nose and mouth. Her eyes were unnerving, like she didn't care about the situation, and it truly felt daunting. The figure wore a black bodysuit that didn't cover her arms and hands. Light magenta straps were worn over her torso like a cross, and one around her hips like a belt, to hold the sword on her back and pouches for other ninja stuff, since she basically looked like one. Oh, and purple wristbands that cover the forearms just in case.

"Thanks," Sadie managed to utter to the stranger. "Uh... if you _could_... Don't destroy the town. _Please_."

Jade grunted, before turning to the hand ship's direction and blurring. Just like that, she vanished without a trace.

* * *

The Revolution Gems had quickly arrived to Beach City, awaiting what this green, hand-shaped, warship had to offer. Pearl stood in the back, watching Howlite fire beams of energy at the ship. The silver Gem's efforts bounced off of the giant hand, her accumulated energy unable to counteract the overall energy output of the ship _floating_ down. Pyrite couldn't do much on ranged attacks, and neither could Moonstone.

Amethyst, on the other hand, pulled out _Parry_ , which was in baton form. It opened up, glowing bright green at its core, and Amethyst aimed Parry at the Homeworld ship.

Before putting Parry down and transforming it back into a baton. Amethyst realized it was useless to try and attack the ship. It didn't seem to be slowing down, and upon further observation, no damage was done to it. It seemed all attacks bounced off of its hull, and she knew that, because Peridot had the same thing designed into the Amedot. It successfully took a hit from Ruby's lightning and attained superficial detriment.

The green "ninja", Jade, zipped to the team's location, and first saw Howlite's futile efforts at destroying the ship. Jade turned to Pearl, who was looking paler than usual.

"Evacuated the citizens," she reported.

"Okay... Less innocents. Hopefully, we don't encounter a beast of power..." Pearl said, afraid at the prospect of Homeworld, as she activated the Destabilizer armor Greg had used against Lazuli. Yellow light formed over her forearms like gauntlets, then made shoulder pads, a breastplate, shin coverings, and lastly, a crown, specifically to protect her gemstone. She felt powerful— _untouchable_ —with this armor. Mostly because Gems get hurt when they hit these projections of light, and she knew how to fight with it.

"Howlite!" Pyrite cried, the wind blowing in her face from the silver Gem's energy output. "I don't think it's going to work!"

Howlite glanced at the golden one as she kept firing a beam of light at the ship. "Then lend me your power!" she chastised.

Pyrite raised a brow. " _What_?"

" _Concentrate_! Grow your power. Place your hand on my shoulder. I'll take your whatever energy you can spare. Your power, my energy, amplifies the damage." Howlite explained. "Or, if you need a better explanation, put your hand on me so I can generate enough energy to match _Hypr_!"

"You can do that?" Pyrite questioned intriguingly.

"I can _try_!" she responded, antsy.

Pyrite built up on her own power, and placed a hand on Howlite's shoulder, donating it to her. The kinetic energy Pyrite gathered were absorbed into Howlite, and at once, the shorter Gem felt a burst of power. A feeling of adrenaline ran through her. The energy attack grew bigger, the winds howled harsher, the sand under their feet gave more way. It was getting harder to plant their feet firmly into the ground. The strength of the attack doubled, causing a minor earthquake in the vicinity, pushing everything away; the ocean, the sand, their teammates... except for the ship. But it seemed to be slowing it down.

"Stop it!" Moonstone ordered through the hail of sand. "You don't have the power!"

Howlite contemplated at the power increase she was given. Moonstone was right, it wasn't enough. This wasn't the power of Hypr. It wouldn't even compare. Still, she could feel herself growing in strength, maybe with enough time for Pyrite's power in her to grow, she could counteract the whole ship. Maybe... they had a chance.

"Howlite!" This time, it was Amethyst, surprisingly. Howlite had never thought of _Amethyst_ , of all Gems, to be giving her orders. "That ship is deflecting your beam thing!" she told her. "Save up your energy for later, when the intruders in the ship come out. There's a reason why they're not obliterating us from the sky, and coming down here where it's vulnerable for them."

The silver warrior ceased at once, her body relaxing as the rush of energy finally left her hands. Her beam dissipated into the air, and returned the world in its green color. Howlite huffed and panted, letting her hands rest on her knees. Howlite glanced at Amethyst, who looked back apologetically for some reason. Mostly because the purple Gem had never really ordered Howlite around and this was her first time, so she wasn't sure if her tone was right.

Pearl was watching Amethyst, before concentrating on the invaders and pulled a spear out of her gemstone. Jade followed her action and drew a katana out of its sheath, since the narrow sword was actually physical and not one of her own projections.

The emerald-colored ship hovered down to the beach, hovering over the waters. Howlite and Pyrite took a leap backwards, hoping to gather space between them and the giant spaceship. The Revolution Gems grouped up a distance from the hand ship, but were still close by to be the first ones a Homeworld Gem would see.

The hand, which only had its index finger pointed out, flipped itself over so its palm was facing up, and extended the rest of its fingers out like a welcoming act.

Amethyst tied her flock of hair into a ponytail, her eyes staring straight at the ship. The others were apprehensive about the invaders from Homeworld, and hoped this wouldn't be a repeat of the Homeworld-Earth War five thousand years ago. At least, not yet, not when they were in a mess. Hopefully in a few years, when the Revolution finally won against the Rebellion, like Sapphire foretold, they could unify and fight against Homeworld.

But now?

They'd have more of a chance fighting against Onyx than fighting Homeworld.

"I didn't think Homeworld would come back _this_ soon. Never crossed my mind for some reason." Pyrite admitted, looking back at her fellow teammates. She put on her headphones and played an instrumental rock song on her iPod to pump herself up. She couldn't really hear anything except the music, so she shouted, "HOPEFULLY, THIS WON'T END IN DEATH! DIDN'T LIKE THAT PART DURING THE WAR!"

Howlite glanced at Pyrite. "We were on Homeworld's side during the war last time." she stated, piquing Pearl's interests. She couldn't help but get suspicious when Garnet had alluded to a traitor in her team.

The golden Gem couldn't hear Howlite's statement and concentrated on the warship. Howlite figured it was the headphones, so any thought of her responding was vanquished.

"I was on Homeworld's side too," Jade responded to Howlite instead. "I had a crew... don't know where they are now." Immediately, Pearl thought Jade's crew would be in the Rebellion at that moment, and in the future, Jade would betray her to be with them.

* * *

A spherical pod was produced from the palm of the green ship, and it hovered over the index finger till it reached the tip, before opening up to reveal the intruders. There was a big orange (but tinted green) jasper, and a lanky peridot at her side, both wearing cold stares at the beach. The bigger one puffed her chest out and crossed her arms over it, her eyes peering over at the scenery. The smaller one surveyed the beach and took in information necessary for reports, her floating mechanical fingers shaped into a screen. She swiped at the holograph to take down notes of the planet.

"So, Peridot nine-two-eight _was_ lying," the big Gem remarked, her skin tainted with grass-colored light. Jasper was her designated name, and her cape brought out her masculinity. "It seems Yellow Diamond was right all along. This planet _isn't_ a barren wasteland. How could _such_ a top-class Peridot _do_ such a thing as lie to her masters, I wonder?" she asked rhetorically.

The peridot informed, "I do believe it has to do with its inhabi—"

"I was being _rhetorical_ ," Jasper interrupted, not wanting to hear another word from her. "Of course I know the answer. It's not like there's a vast number of reasons why Peridot nine-two-eight would defect and lie about a planet's status."

The shorter Gem grumbled under her breath, turning away to take photos of the vicinity.

Jasper took a step forward and found even more surprises awaiting her.

"So, this is what's become of Earth? Pathetic." Jasper remarked snidely, her eyes glazing over the team that was prepared for their arrival. "There are _weak_ lifeforms everywhere."

"Yes," Peridot remarked, her voice unemotional and high-pitched as normal standards of peridots go. "But Yellow Diamond's mission states that we get reports on Earth and the cluster—"

"And we go back home as soon as possible," Jasper finished, rolling her eyes at her comrade. She looked back at the beach. "I know. I get it. But it's _boring_."

Down below, Pearl contemplated at one of the Gems on that plateau in particular. It was the Peridot. And how she looked so akin to the one they knew two years ago.

 _So, this is what the warning was about._ Pearl's grip on her spear tightened. _That Gem may look like Peridot, but the message says that it's not her. Hmph, I guess our Peridot liked the standard look, seeing as how this one looks_ exactly the same _._ She rebuked inwardly, before glancing at Amethyst. _I wonder what you're thinking._

The purple Gem was mystified by the Peridot up there.

"...you look so much like her..." she murmured, narrowing her eyes. "...and at the same time, I can see all the differences between you and her..." She focused on those cold green eyes, looking dull and harsh. Her Peridot's was a lot more happy and interested, and her allure was much more imposing in her opinion.

She missed her dearly, and the only thing she had received from her was a warning message only half an hour ago. Which made her think why Peridot didn't make any messages back then, and led her to thinking Homeworld could track it. If they could, then that would be a bold move for Peridot, and she's probably being punished for it by now. Amethyst shivered, wondering if they'll ever see each other again. Every second that passed, her image of them (Steven included, as being both their best man) grows darker and bleaker.

Amethyst had never left Earth. She never thought of going to Homeworld for her own agenda. But now, that changed. Homeworld was a target, one she needed to go to. She _needed_ to go to Homeworld. She _needed_ to get her back. Her Peridot.

She couldn't focus on the Homeworld Gems invading. Thinking about them made it more apparent what was happening to Peridot. They were here because Peridot failed. They were here, and Peridot was not.

She didn't care if Homeworld's forces would overwhelm her. She didn't think of the ongoing war on Earth. And certainly not of the "invasion" right now. She was thinking about hopping onto a spaceship, presumably that hand ship, and blasting off to Homeworld to rescue Peridot.

 _That sounds so sappy,_ Amethyst mused, _I like it. Peridot would like it._ She chuckled, before resuming to the current affair. _...no. No! Come on, Amethyst, get in the game. Focus!_

She frowned, looking at her surroundings now. They had to deal with Homeworld's forces right now. And they didn't know if it was only these two, or if there was a whole fleet in that giant ship. Or if there was another ship incoming.

Jasper finished scanning the Gems of Earth, and finally made her short review.

"Check out the lineup... a lost and defected pearl, a puny overcooked amethyst, a jade lackey... Oh boy, the ex-prince of the _White Diamond_ court?" The large, orange warrior chuckled at the juiciness of the discovery. "Hold on, here's a new objective, we'll have to bring _her_ back to Yellow Diamond." she told the Peridot. The brute's eyes continued, and landed on Pyrite. "And _that_ yellow abomination? I thought she was _dead_. Wow... looks like I was wrong." Then finally, to Moonstone. "Oh! Hah! And save the best for last, the _old legendary coot_. I'm not gonna float for your tricks."

The Revolution Gems tensed up at the Homeworld Gem's statements.

Jasper chuckled, before scowling. "You know, this news is too good to be true. They might be _holograms_." She turned to Peridot. "Test them. Shoot the suckers."

With the Gems below, Howlite sighed, "...And here we go."

Peridot also sighed, drawing a circle on her holographic screen and tapping the center of the shape. The white circle outline was filled with white, activating the ship's main cannons.

"Firing now," the green technician stated, as the ship's index finger pointed at the Revolution Gems.

" _Moonstone_!" Both Pearl and Howlite shouted, hoping for him to absorb the attack.

"I'm on it," the old Gem drawled, stepping forth in front of them.

The ship charged its main cannons, and fired. BSHHHOOOOO! A dense beam of light made its way to the Revolution Gems, and Moonstone acted as their shield. The old coot planted his feet firmly into the ground, and withstood the attack. Energy was absorbed, causing Moonstone to brim with power. The high frequency sound of the attack kept humming afterwards, till the old Gem let out a puff of air he had been holding in, and the sound ended.

Jasper's eyes lightened and her grin widened. "They're _real_."

"Get off our property!" Pearl shouted, trying to intimidate and bluff their way out of this. "This is _my_ planet." she lied, "You have _no_ business here!"

"Oh, they _talk_." Jasper chuckled amusingly. She raised her voice and practically bellowed at them. "Don't think you can trick me! I was _made_ here! I know who " _owns_ " this planet, and I'm using the term loosely... Where is _Rose Quartz_?! I'd hoped to meet her! I was looking forward to _beating_ her into the _ground_!" She informed, smacking a fist into her palm to make it clear. "And looking at the display right now, it seems like the powerful " _Earth's heroes"_ are standing here. And if Rose Quartz isn't with you, then _oh my_..." She grinned ferociously at the thought. "Either she's _dead_ , went against your ways, or she's a coward for sending out her troops. Pick one."

"It's kind of complicated!" Amethyst retorted.

"Oh, _do_ tell!" Jasper replied. She hopped off the finger of her ship and landed on the sandy beach, leaving the peridot to herself. "I have time."

Amethyst whipped _Parry_ to her side, making a snapping noise that came with the weapon opening itself up for attack. _Parry_ extended itself outwards, showing off a bright green blade, shimmering with energy.

The bigger Quartz grinned. "I like where this is going."

Instead, Moonstone intervened, dashing at Jasper and punching her in the face with newfound power. The attack had the same intensity as the ship's cannons, and created a ferocious shock wave that shattered the beach. Energy exploded out of Moonstone's arm, and to his surprise, Jasper was still grinning through it. The brute popped a helmet out, a little late considering the damage was already done.

Jasper headbutted Moonstone instinctively, regretting her action as the older Gem absorbed the impact. He shot a hand out and struck her throat, making for massive damage since it was the connection between her Gem and the rest of her body. Jasper grunted, taking a step back. She took a couple seconds to recover, and noticed Moonstone hadn't attacked in those instances, and that was because he didn't have enough power to back up any other attack.

"I knew you'd do that," she said, immediately taking hold of Moonstone's wrists. "And I'm not stupid enough to fight you."

Jasper spun and forcefully hurled the old Gem into the sky, sending him miles and miles away.

The brute held her throat, rubbing it from Moonstone's attack. The old man had experience, and she didn't doubt that. She didn't feel up to speed anymore. Nevertheless, she lit up a yellow aura around herself, and charged for the first Gem on her list: the amethyst.

Amethyst struck her sword out, hoping Peridot's ingeniousness would be able to stop Jasper. But Jasper's Comet Charge was powerful enough to barrel her down without fail, making the purple Gem tumble down into the sand. Amethyst felt the wind get knocked out of her, and took the time to writhe in pain.

"HEY, BIG GUY!" Pyrite shouted, still unable to hear anything outside her headphones. The golden Gem darted for Jasper, who was still in Comet Charge. The two powerhouses collided, with Pyrite able to take on Jasper. However, it was short-lived, as Pyrite's growing power was encompassed by Jasper's aura of indifference. Pyrite held on, before her footing gave way, and that led to her getting her head smashed into the beach. Jasper held her down with one hand, raising her other for maximum effort.

"I know what you are, you yellow _freak of nature_ ," Jasper rebuked, "I'll have to end you before you get out of control."

" _WHAT_?" Pyrite yelled worriedly, spitting out sand.

SLAMM! Jasper decked the golden Gem's face in with a resounding smash. Sand splashed everywhere, tremors and cracks were made into the ground. Jasper got up and winded her leg back for a kick. With a swift movement, her leg slammed into Pyrite's side and sent her rocketing into a boulder, which she ricocheted off of. As the golden Gem's body flew, Howlite zipped across, not even catching her, and blasted a white energy sphere at Jasper.

The orange brute deflected it with a backhand, letting the energy blast curve into the ocean and explode on impact.

Howlite's jaw dropped at the act. "But-... How did you..."

Jasper rubbed her forearm, which was scorched and shown superficial burns. "You're tough, _prince_." she remarked, "You broke through my defenses. Not an easy thing to do."

"Well..." Howlite regained her composure, realizing how it didn't explode on impact with Jasper. The titan still had an aura around her which counteracted her energy blast. "...I'm not exactly a small fry." she said, "I was the prince, I had power that—"

"You're no _prince_." Jasper interrupted angrily. "You're just a failed experiment by White Diamond. Her reports are public domain, everyone knows you're an abomination, just like _that_ yellow _thing_."

Howlite glanced at Pyrite, who was lying in a cluster of rock.

"It feels disheartening to be compared to her," Howlite said condescendingly. She turned back to Jasper, "But if you've seen the reports, then you know I'm supposed to be a clone of White Diamond. And even though I don't really match her abilities, I still have power that rules over most Gems. And that applies to you."

"Yeah, _five thousand years ago_ , it would." Jasper retorted, "You don't have power anymore. Your royalty means _nothing_." She charged at Howlite, who flew out of the way. "You're a _disgrace_!" she chided, redirecting herself. "Don't you know how your existence _humiliates_ the entire Gem colony?" Jasper darted for Howlite, and picked up a boulder while she was at it. "Shattering you here and now would be a mercy to what Yellow Diamond would do if she found out you were still activated."

Jasper hurled the boulder at Howlite, which went at an astounding speed. The projectile burned up from the friction, closing in at the silver Gem, when a spear intervened and shattered the boulder into a million pieces. The light spear then spun in the air into Howlite's hands. The ex-prince looked down and saw Pearl nodding at her. She returned the thanks with a firm nod.

"But that's if Yellow Diamond finds out... that's not gonna happen. Not yet." Howlite replied, "Because you're not going back."

"What makes you so sure about that?" Jasper demanded, glancing at Peridot at the hand. The orange brute narrowed her eyes at her, the green Gem looking around and not paying attention. Jasper picked up a tiny rock and threw it at Peridot's head, knocking some sense into her. Jasper silently mouthed, "Fire the damn thing."

Howlite noticed and made an energy disk out of her free palm and directed the attack at Peridot. The mechanic scurried away, dodging the attack that instead cut through the index finger and went out the underside. Since the ship was focused on offense, its defenses weren't as effective as before, so it surprised Howlite that her attacks actually made it through. The silver Gem looked at Jasper mischievously.

"What makes me so sure?" Howlite playfully repeated Jasper's question. The silver Gem brought her hand out at the hand ship and blasted a beam of light into the center of its palm. The attack penetrated through the metal and made it to the other side. The hand ship's power source was greatly diminished, but was still working on leftover fuel. The ex-prince chuckled at Jasper's reaction, which was a mixture of surprise and dread.

"You impudent Diamond bastard." Jasper growled, clenching her fists.

"Looks like you're not going back, and you're _never_ going to file that report to Yellow Diamond." Howlite informed satirically.

Amethyst watched as smoke billowed from the spaceship's cortex, her own plan to use it to get to Homeworld... not going to be as easy as she thought. Now that that plan was scrapped, she had to think of another plan. She thought Pearl could help out with building a spacecraft for her no problem. After all, they had each other's respects, and how could she say no to the awesome Amethyst?

Peridot on the other hand was panicking at the sight of her main way home sinking onto the ocean floor. How was she going to report this to Yellow Diamond? This was a waste of a good ship, and her Diamond would have her shattered for destroying their finite resources. She was starting to dread about this day. Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG will go down in history as the most useless Gem in Homeworld. She'd be a laughing stock if her Diamond didn't shatter her first. And this would be a blow to her profile and achievements. Nobody would enlist her for any job, and she would be shattered or harvested anyway to reuse Homeworld's resources.

Jasper wasn't thinking too much on the loss of the ship. There were enough escape pods in the ship that hadn't been hit yet, so they could salvage that. These Gems on Earth were more resourceful than they thought, but Jasper was confident she could take them on. There was only a pearl, an amethyst and a jade to handle other than the main threat, the Prince. And she was going to pay for that little scare.

Jasper blasted off from the sand and closed the gap between her and Howlite in an instant. Her newly activated Comet Charge was fresh and at its full potency, surprising Howlite by her newfound speed. The orange Gem slammed her knee into the silver warrior's stomach, dealing a heavy blow to the entirety of her body. Before Howlite could be flung into the sky by the momentum, Jasper grabbed her by the hair and zoomed to the beach, where she plunged the shorter one deep into the ground. Howlite recovered quickly, wasting no time to stab Pearl's spear into the heart of Jasper's body, only for it to miss entirely and receive a stunning blow to the neck. Blood and spit was promptly spewed from Howlite's hung jaw.

"You're going to pay for wrecking my ship, you imbecile!" Jasper cried as she violently kicked Howlite upside the head, sending her bouncing off sand and hitting Pearl, who deactivated her Destabilizer armor to catch the shorter Gem. Jasper charged at them shortly afterwards.

Jade, with her surprising speed, intercepted Jasper with a swing of a metal sword. It broke into several pieces upon clashing with a Comet Charged Jasper. Jade was trampled like Amethyst the next second and Pearl was next to stand up against the ferocious brute. She dropped Howlite to the ground, activated her Destabilizer armor, and charged the beast.

* * *

"...and this will fix the whole situation before it gets out of _hand_." Garnet finished.

" _Really_?" Lapis raised a brow, having her head leaning on her water hand. "You just _had_ to make that pun."

"I'm sorry, too tempting. I'm surprised I lasted the whole explanation." Garnet replied, smirking as she adjusted her shades.

"Alright, let me get this straight..." Lapis said, as she delved into the deeper subject of this plan the fusion concocted. They discussed a bit more, and the ocean Gem finally arrived to a conclusion. "So, right now, there are Homeworld Gems on the planet. And Pearl and the others are fighting them. And I'll have to save them and have what's coming for me to make sure everyone is safe." she said, sighing. Her surprise that Homeworld was here faded with every second she talked to a fusion who could tell the future. "What about Emerald?"

"Don't worry. He won't go to extremes while you're gone... at least, not to maim or kill." Garnet replied, "If he does... You know what to do."

"Pfft, really? You're gonna ask that? I'll do nothing and let _you_ do the work." the shorter one responded. "Hopefully, me doing nothing will help you do your part." Lapis snorted sarcastically.

"Good." Garnet warmly smiled at the ocean Gem. "We have this... in _hand_."

Lapis contemplated at her fate and disliked Ruby's hand puns, and even worse that it resided in the fusion. They had just talked about the future and her fate, and a fusion that had Ruby in it making bad jokes was the last thing Lapis wanted. "You're making this unnaturally corny and I don't like it." she said.

Garnet's smile turned into a frown. "You'll have to go. Now." she solemnly told her.

"Right," Lapis replied, looking down at her hands. She was an integral part to the future, and seeing that in the grand scheme was a whole lot to take in perspective. The less the powerful entities like her participated in this war, the better. The ocean Gem clenched her fists, not feeling the other one, and sprouted her water wings from her gemstone.

"Don't underestimate this Jasper," Garnet reminded her.

Lapis looked at the fusion with a sneer. "What, did I lose in your future vision? You don't have to worry, I've fought jaspers before. I even fought one in your Bloodstone War, and our fight reached the _moon_. It was overkill."

"This Jasper is trained and much more powe—you know what? Just go and do your best." said Garnet, sighing.

Lapis flapped her wings and rose in altitude, before turning to the direction of Beach City. The ocean Gem spread her wings and dove into the air with grace, zooming past clouds to her destination.

Once Lapis was gone, Garnet exited the tent, with a piece of Amber's gemstone that Lapis had taken from the ocean earlier. The fusion adjusted her glasses, and flew from the Kindergarten, leaving it with Amber's gemstone in tow.

* * *

"You're doing surprisingly well for a pearl," Jasper remarked, trading skillful blows with the lithe Gem.

Pearl flipped around graciously and swerved her legs around to kick Jasper at full momentum, hoping it added to the damage of her Gem Destabilizers. Jasper didn't realize that the yellow armor Pearl had was damaging her, and every strike she threw was countered with a block of the forearms or the shins, and it burned Jasper's knuckles.

Jasper wasn't going all out at first, but when she noticed she was somehow taking damage, and that this knight was much more impressive than she expected, she decided to amp it up. Using her Comet Charge to increase the force of her blows, but they only pushed Pearl back by a bit. She was used to Gems becoming ragdolls by her touch, but this was different to her. And it was a _pearl_ of all things doing this to her.

Pearl pulled a spear out of her forehead as she spun over Jasper, twirling the weapon at her side as she landed. The legendary Pearl thrusted her weapon into Jasper's chest, and it was deflected by the activation of her Comet Charge. Jasper slammed an elbow into Pearl's stomach, which wasn't protected by the Destabilizer armor, and then jumped up at an angle that directed her feet at Pearl. Jasper double-kicked the smaller warrior back as she fell to the ground.

"That isn't very effective," Pearl informed, brushing off her stomach, careful not to touch her armor.

Jasper rolled backwards, and pushed herself upright. Using her arm strength as leverage, she propelled herself forward and double-kicked Pearl yet again. Landing her feet against the Gem's torso, Jasper kicked her by the chin, used Pearl's body as a platform and jumped, simultaneously double-kicking Pearl down for the third time. Jasper spun in the air and was about to land on Pearl with her two feet, when the white Gem recovered from all the kicking and actively hurried away before Jasper's feet smashed the beach grounds. Jasper landed, making a wave of sand rise ten feet and made a chain reaction to push it forwards like a wave of water.

Pearl wasn't quick enough to escape and got caught by the tidal wave of sand, effectively burying her alive. A giant mass of sand covering over you like a six feet thick blanket, and taking away your air. The weight of sand was heavy enough in a bucket, but Pearl was six feet under. It would take a while for her to push free, and it was a nightmare as she had to keep clawing through the forces acting against her, with no light and no direction of where she was digging. It was like the Kindergarten all over again.

Luckily for her, Jasper was adamant about fighting her.

The brute used her Comet Charge to shove the mountain of sand off with a single kick, freeing Pearl from the suffocating prison. Jasper took her by the leg and threw her at a boulder, which snapped like a twig upon impact.

Pearl spat out a mold of sand, before looking around at her surroundings. She didn't have long as all she saw was Jasper charging at her with her crash helmet on, ready to headbutt her. Pearl's movements were slow, and the only reason she was shattered at that point was the Destabilizer armor blocking Jasper's helmet from any contact with Pearl's gemstone. Pearl braced for impact, which was only a couple of milliseconds.

HHWWHHAACKKRK! Jasper knocked Pearl clean through the boulder and darted for the cliff side, where Pearl's body was crushed from the impact between the mountain of billions of tons and Jasper's Comet Charge. The whole cliff shook from the impact, and Pearl was embedded into the cliff, with giant spiderweb cracks etched onto the steep slope. From this, rocks from the tip of the cliff started shifting around, getting loose and starting to slide.

Jasper stepped away from Pearl, who was slumped against the wall, her body limp and her head hanging down. The landslide occurred, massive rocks falling on top of Jasper, but that didn't faze her. She didn't even flinch when a boulder shattered against her crash helmet.

She stared at Pearl, waiting for her to poof, when her fingers suddenly twitch. Pearl grabbed hold of the mountain, and pulled herself out of it, although gradually and shakily.

"You're one tough Gem," Jasper remarked, watching Pearl stagger forward. The invader headbutted Pearl and she immediately collapsed under the stress. "Okay. Maybe not."

Jasper swerved back to the direction of the ship, her eyes narrowing at the remaining Gems. She saw the amethyst scamper towards her broken ship, probably to encounter Peridot. All that's left was the prince and the jade.

"HEY, BIG GUY!" a shrill voice called out.

 _And of course she's still conscious,_ Jasper thought as she turned towards Pyrite.

* * *

Amethyst ran for the spacecraft, hoping to ask if the peridot had some way of getting back to Homeworld. She spotted the peridot running for her life, and turning a corner behind one of the fingers. Amethyst followed, turning the same corner, and got blasted with a green energy blast that threw her back a couple meters.

The purple Gem recovered almost immediately, looking up to see the peridot with her limb enhancer pointed right at her, charging up another ball of deadly energy. Amethyst could see the small similarities between her and Peridot two-nine-eight, and that made her less vengeful with all the memories she had with her. However, those cold emerald eyes were distracting.

"Hey, uh..." Amethyst started, noticing how primitive her limb enhancers looked compared to Perry Dott's. The peridot kept her blaster aimed at Amethyst, warning her not to do anything funny. Amethyst softened herself, putting her hands up to show she wasn't going to make any harmful attacks. "...can I ask a question?"

Peridot kept her scowl, making her look vastly different to the Peridot Amethyst knew.

Receiving no response, Amethyst shrugged. "So, uh..."

"I didn't say you could talk."

Amethyst almost burst out laughing in joy when she heard her. She sounded the same as the other one. And that intimidating tone she was trying wasn't threatening to Amethyst, as she heard that tone being used when Peridot didn't like something. It was just a cute thing for her.

But this wasn't Peridot two-nine-eight she was dealing with. This was Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG. A not-so radically different Peridot.

"You're laughing at me," Peridot said, getting angry at Amethyst for not being threatened by her, or at the very least, _afraid_. "Stop it. Stop laughing!"

"I'm not laughing." Amethyst couldn't help it but let a giggle escape her grin.

Thinking her warning wasn't enough, she shouted, "I'll shoot you!"

Amethyst's grin fell a bit, but every word Peridot uttered just sounded funny.

Peridot shut her eyes, her arm shaking at the violet Quartz, and took the shot. Amethyst narrowed her eyes seriously, and with active reflexes, got out of the way. Peridot yelped and backed away into the corner, getting herself trapped with Amethyst in her way of escape. The green technician desperately pointed her blaster at her, and had her head hung in shame. She couldn't hurt the amethyst or even intimidate her. She wasn't worth anything. If she was shattered here, then it would probably be the best for Homeworld.

Amethyst could see the peridot struggling with herself. So she asked a question to divert Peridot's attention away from herself and to the purple Gem. "Do you have a way to get back home?"

Peridot sobbed depressingly, "No... You won't get anything from me..."

"Well, _drat_." Amethyst sighed. Peridot clearly didn't hear her question, or was really stubborn to answer it. "Okay, here's a _deal_."

Peridot looked at Amethyst shakily, wondering why she hadn't shattered her yet.

"If you have a way of getting back to Homeworld, I'll let you come with and you can go home. And I'll get _my_ Peridot back." Amethyst said.

Peridot gritted her teeth, the mention of that disgraceful peridot burned a fire in her.

"Peridot nine-two-eight is a filthy, disgusting _traitor_! She's a _clod_! Clod, clod, _clod_!" the green technician shouted.

Before Amethyst could reply, a loud scream headed her way.

"AMETHYST-LOOK-OU—"

CRAAASSHHH! Pyrite's body collided with the ship's finger, her power alone sending explosions running till the knuckle, where Peridot was at. Amethyst shielded herself with her bare arms, getting knocked to the side by the explosion. Peridot, however, got caught in the seismic shock and was flattened against the other finger. The shrapnel went everywhere, piercing Amethyst's leg and arm. The poor peridot was poofed as tons of shrapnel hit her for bring trapped between the fingers.

The purple Gem groaned, getting up with a blur in her vision. She picked out pieces of metal from her arm, which didn't make that deep of a cut. At least, it didn't go all the way through. Oh, wait, it did... on her leg.

Amethyst looked over to the ship, and saw one finger being set on fire, and most of the outer layer of metal was gone. The shrapnel was everywhere, and a big chunk had stopped itself right next to Amethyst. She swallowed air in relief, if she was a few inches to the right, she would've been poofed. Amethyst wondered if the peridot was okay, and tried to look for any sign of her body. All she found was her limb enhancers that were pierced with shrapnel.

The index finger was set ablaze, and the rest of the metal was blackened with ash or sent everywhere. Some of it was glowing white.

Pyrite survived the explosions, and was too busy being thrown inside the ship to be hit with any metal. The golden Gem groaned, while her human clothes burned off, and her headphones and iPod were ultimately destroyed.

"Damn it..." Pyrite cursed. She was wounded and bruised by all the beatings Jasper had given her. She had some good blows in on Jasper too, but the bigger warrior was much more skilled than her.

"Need any help?" Amethyst asked her.

"Yes..." Pyrite whimpered, holding her arm. "...if you can, you should probably start helping the others."

"Oh," Amethyst's eyes traced the sand trail all the way to Jasper, who had Howlite in a bear hug and kept bashing her face in with continuous headbutts. "...uh..."

"Can you do that giant form again?" Pyrite asked inquisitively, and almost had a childlike whine to her tone.

"...I've broken my body doing that, and Garnet warned me not to use it, so..." Amethyst trailed away, before shifting into light and growing twice her size. Now eight feet tall, the purple Gem ran towards Jasper, with Pyrite following close behind. Jasper smashed Howlite's head again, watching the silver Gem grow unconscious, her bloodied head slanted back. In the corner of her eye, she saw Amethyst and Pyrite charging for her, and she threw Howlite at Amethyst.

The purple Gem dodged, but Pyrite caught the ex-prince in her arms. Amethyst kept her pace and shoulder bashed Jasper, who caught her with her bare hands. Her feet were being pushed back by Amethyst's attack.

"So, you think shapeshifting will save you?" Jasper asked, activating her Comet Charge for the umpteenth time and overpowering Amethyst step by step. The purple Gem gulped and shrunk back down, narrowly avoiding a calculated headbutt. Amethyst sneered, but since half her mass was gone, Jasper was able to bulldoze her way through the smaller Gem.

Amethyst was promptly stomped on, yelling in shock.

"HEY, BIG GUY!" Pyrite yelled, _again_.

Jasper stopped, rolled her eyes, and turned to Pyrite boredly. The golden Gem was hunched over, drunk with power, before charging at Jasper. Activating her Comet Charge, Jasper went head-on with Pyrite's new plateau of power, only for her to get immediately overpowered by brute strength and stature. Pyrite's feet sunk into the sand, while Jasper towered over her and bashed her crash helmet against Pyrite's head.

The golden Gem yelped with each hit, before pushing back, her gold eyes filled with a ferocity. Pyrite began to fight back, her forehead bloodied, teeth grinding, and slammed a knee into Jasper's solar plexus. The Homeworld Gem screeched surprisingly, spitting her own blood. She retaliated with another headbutt to her forehead, and Pyrite reciprocated with a fist striking into her side, violently causing Jasper to curl up from it. The brute gritted her teeth, and retreated backwards. The two took this time to take a breather.

This was what she had feared from the beginning. That Pyrite's power would grow until it became too unstable, too much to handle. Jasper wanted to knock her out first, but the others rushed in, and diverted her focus on to them.

But, Jasper still had something under her sleeve.

"I forgot I had this," Jasper said, pulling out a Gem Destabilizer from her back. It was made as a shock baton, and it crackled with cruel electricity. "Sorry to cut this short, but you're too dangerous for me to fight alone."

Pyrite's face twisted in confusion, when she finally realized what the baton potentially was. "Oh..."

She probably had a few hits she could endure from that until she poofed—

Jasper struck.

Instinctively, Pyrite blocked it with her forearm.

The golden Gem felt her arm disorientate, yellow lines of light were marked onto her skin. They broke into several other lines, growing from the small part of her arm, to her shoulder, then to her chest, then to her whole body. This wasn't the Gem Destabilizer she was familiar with. No, this was much more efficient. It was... _perfected_.

Pyrite fell. Pieces of her did. She broke into pieces, and upon touching land... she poofed.

Jasper harrumphed, wiping her mouth of blood as she looked around. Pearl was still collapsed on the ground, Pyrite's gemstone was out in the open, Howlite laid on the ground, Moonstone was nowhere to be found. That left Jade and Amethyst.

Jasper watched the purple Gem slowly get up. The orange Homeworld Gem kicked Amethyst onto her side, and for some reason, she was chuckling to herself.

"What are you laughing at, runt?" Jasper demanded, nudging her with her boot.

"Even if you defeat us, there are still others out there... much powerful... who would... _utterly_ destroy you." Amethyst informed. "Go ahead, poof me. Someone else will take our place, and I know for a fact... you wouldn't last."

Jasper sighed.

"So, more Gems... is Rose Quartz one of these heroes?" she asked.

"Uh... no. She's long gone." Amethyst stated. Jasper stared at the purple Gem, hoping that wasn't true. She was looking forward to fighting Rose.

"Don't lie to me—" Jasper sensed something and immediately turned around in time to smack Jade to the ground. The ninja tumbled across the ground, her acid spit only affecting a small part of Jasper's arm. The brute punched her arm into the sand, hoping to graze it off.

The earth shook suddenly.

Sand rose and fell around Jasper.

From the oceans, a male voice shouted, "Never fear, my comrades! I've finally gotten here... after a week being stuck in the ocean..."

Amethyst shut her eyes. "Oh, it's _him_..."

Hematite emerged from the oceans, water dripping from his bulky rock body. The rocky black Gem took his royal steps onto the shore, ignoring the giant spacecraft a few meters to his right. Hematite raised his hand, and clenched his fist. The earth around Jasper did the same, sand rising and closing up into a ball around her. More minerals crawled up and added to the rocky prison Jasper was held in. The brute punched and kicked, occasionally getting a limb out, but Hematite covered any hole with more rock and sand.

"I have come to the rescue." Hematite confidently proclaimed, turning to his team. He remained unfazed as he saw everyone he knew having their own agony. "I apologize if I was late, because _nobody aided me out from the ocean_."

The rock prison exploded with yellow light, as Jasper reactivated her Comet Charge.

* * *

Lapis was floating over, watching Hematite get punted by the buff orange savage. She looked over to the side and her face fell, seeing the giant green hand she had somehow missed completely.

"Oh, come on... _really_?" Lapis remarked furiously, as she looked at the giant hand. She inwardly felt her missing hand itch, but she knew that wasn't a real feeling. "It just _had_ to be a hand... Garnet knew. She _had_ to. And she's probably _laughing_ at me now. Oh, how mature, Ruby."

Lapis spread her wings and flew down to the beach.

Hematite slammed his fist into Jasper's face. The Homeworld Gem had to admit, that was a good punch, so she retaliated with a headbutt, that sent Hematite tumbling around the beach, much like the rest of her foes. It seemed cartoonish how a rock monster was rolling in the sand by just one hit, but Hematite was there, receiving humiliation only a handful of people saw.

Jasper leaped high, and double-kicked Hematite as she landed, splashing sand everywhere. Hematite grunted, bringing up his shoulder plate shield and bashing Jasper's face in, except her crash helmet protected her. The orange Gem extended her shock baton, whipping it to life, and was about to strike Hematite with it.

"Hey, big guy!" Lapis yelled, as Jasper plunged the Gem Destabilizer into the small opening in Hematite's defenses. The rocky Gem groaned as he was defeated for the second time in the row, and his opponent didn't even put any effort, and so did he.

"Oh, not this again," Jasper growled, turning her head to expect Pyrite. But all she saw was a slim, blue Gem who had water wings. If she had to guess, it was a lapis lazuli, but those Gems were mere batteries. The way the navy Gem held herself looked as if she was confident she could beat her. Now, that was a good joke. However, in retrospective, there was a Pearl that was able to hold her own against her, so this backwards planet had an intriguing _thing_ going on. "And who are you supposed to be?" Jasper asked, only so she could be amused.

"I'm Lapis Lazuli..." the ocean Gem replied, holding off the "strongest Gem in the world" title. It was overused for her now, she said it for a year. It was _February_. "...bringer of storms and hurricanes."

"Hmph." Jasper grunted, as Hematite poofed in the background. She sheathed the Gem Destabilizer on her back. "And I'm Jasper, bringer of headbutts and double-kicks," she retorted. Lapis realized why her attitude was indifferent to her.

"I know what you're thinking," Lapis said, clenching her fists to her sides. Her water wings turned sharp as ice, and her hands were fitted with water gauntlets. "What's a battery doing out here? Well, do you know, batteries are a main source of power in Homeworld?"

"Actually, _no_." Jasper replied. "You've got your facts wrong. There are power generators back in Homeworld, clearly you haven't been home in a while."

Lapis frowned.

"Okay, you caught me. I've run out of witty material, alright? I didn't expect to be fighting this soon, and this was a _last second_ change." the ocean Gem informed, "Are you ready now? To witness power that shakes the very planet your standing? Power that makes other jaspers afraid?"

Jasper narrowed her eyes at the cobalt-colored Gem. "Oh, you're _serious_."

Lapis raised a hand, controlling the ocean behind Jasper. The Homeworld Gem noticed the shadow looming over her, and looked back to see a giant hand (still half the size of the ship) cover the sky. Jasper activated her Comet Charge and darted for Lapis with ferocious yellow aura. The ocean Gem raised her gauntlets and made an ice wall between her and Jasper. It didn't make any difference, as Jasper smashed through it and closed the gap between her and Lapis. The ocean Gem put her icicle wings around herself to defend, which also had the same fate as that ice wall. Jasper broke through it.

The Homeworld Gem slammed into Lapis at a brutal force, getting her to throw up blood and spit. The ocean Gem regained her composure quickly. She'd fought tougher opponents. She fought Jet for stars' sake, how did this Gem cause her to feel such physical distress in one blow? Lapis spun over Jasper and kicked her upside the head from behind, and flew back to the shore to take her time.

Jasper turned to the ocean Gem. "What? _Bringer of storms and hurricanes_ , is tired already?"

"Nah," Lapis panted, clutching her stomach. She cracked her neck. _She's no Onyx, but she's definitely a tough cookie. I'll have to actually put more effort into this. Garnet was right._

"What are you waiting for?" Jasper taunted, holding the shock baton behind her back. "Hit me."

"Alright," Lapis raised her arms, pushing the ocean behind her to rise up just like her. Clouds swirled around, darkening and getting heavier. The tidal waves grew fifty feet tall in a matter of seconds, and Jasper looked in awe at what type of hit she asked for. The storm clouds were nestled closely together, compacting to become denser, and swirled around Lapis from the sky. Thunder boomed up in the clouds, as rain started to drop. Jasper looked away from the sixty foot tall waves, and to the sky, where she saw it was covered with clouds, darkening the lace. Lapis smirked, "Don't move."

Lapis threw her arms down.

The ocean tides, built up with potential energy, finally crashed down against the beach, washing up Gems and the hand ship. Jasper decided to avoid the waves entirely, and Comet Charged her way upwards, narrowly missing the lethal seventy foot waves. As Jasper flew with her energy pushing her, the storm clouds crackled with a million volts and threatened to strike Jasper down. She didn't listen to the warnings, too focused on being surprised at the power of that blue battery, and was promptly struck with lightning.

KRRAAKKABOOOM!

A billion volts of electricity hit Jasper at full force, burning her with five thousand degrees. The orange Gem screamed, and plunged downward into the tall sea. Underwater, Lapis lowered the water level, before shooting her fist up as an uppercut, and the ocean cloned her action, suddenly punching Jasper with the force of five thousand gallons at an unfathomable acceleration.

Jasper flew into the sky, before using her Comet Charge to stop herself and hover. She took in a few heavy breaths, realizing she had been using too much of her Comet Charge. Nevertheless, she still kept the orange energy up, so she could combat the ocean Gem. It wouldn't matter if she was poofed, they'll surely shatter her. She wasn't gonna go down that easy.

She was going to give the Crystal Gems a fight.

Jasper rocketed down, just as Lapis dramatically emerged from the sea. The orange down brought both her fists together and raised them up, hoping to deliver a fatal haymaker to the ocean Gem. With water still around, Lapis used it to her advantage. She saw Jasper coming down at a staggering speed, and she opposed by creating a ten feet thick water shield over her. Jasper's clamped fists were brought down the moment she was in range of the water shield, and the force sliced all ten feet of liquid in half. Lapis didn't expect anymore, when Jasper continued at the same momentum, and doubled-kicked Lapis in the chest.

Lapis Lazuli sunk into the sea like a rock.

 _Okay, I uh... didn't think she was worth shit. Underestimated her_ again _._ Lapis thought, as she saw a blurry Jasper making her way towards her, even through the ocean. _Not gonna happen._

Lapis punched the water, shooting force through this medium and hitting Jasper underwater. The ocean Gem lost her speed trying to wade through the water, and pushed herself to the limit once more, activating her Comet Charge.

The ocean waters exploded with a blinding light.

* * *

Back on the shore, Amethyst hacked up saltwater and seaweed, and tried to pick herself up from sinking into the wet sand. She looked around. The hand ship was half submerged into the sea, Pyrite's Gem was luckily embedded in the sand. Howlite, Jade and Pearl were washed up on the shore. Hematite was nowhere to be found. She quickly scampered up and went to the shallow waters, hoping that the peridot was safe. She trudged through the water, trying to find a green glint in the water. There was an immediate green glow, and Amethyst dove into the waters.

A few moments later, Amethyst emerged, soaking wet, pulling the peridot to safety. The next moment, Peridot gagged and spewed saltwater from her mouth, violently coughing for air. Amethyst was at her side, trying to help, when the peridot turned on her, putting her fist an inch from Amethyst's face.

Peridot immediately noticed the loss of weight and that her blaster was gone. "My... My l-limb enhancers... W-where..." she looked up at Amethyst for answers, who pointed at the ocean, where now the green spacecraft only had its fingers to show. "No... the _ship_. _No_!"

"HHRRAAAAHHHHH!" Jasper's voice echoed from the distance.

Amethyst whipped her head to the source, and saw a blue dot getting bigger. She instantly realized what it was and pulled Peridot down as Lapis' body soared overhead. The ocean Gem slid across the beach, creating a pathway to signify her defeat. The navy Gem huffed as she pulled herself up, feeling her body ache all over. It was nothing but headbutts and double-kicks from Jasper, and they were agonizing as hell. Blood ran down her face and arms, bruises and cuts galore everywhere.

Jasper, with her signature Comet Charge, zoomed over sea level and made a beeline for Lapis. The ocean Gem sighed tiredly, before reaching deep into her soul. A dark essence sprouted from it, blackening her eyes this time for some reason, and turning her pupils white. The aura of death shimmered over Lapis, as she prepared for Jasper's strike.

They collided, with Lapis' aura absorbing the hit, making it look like Jasper just slammed into an immovable object.

 _Holy shit..._ Lapis mused, looking at her dark lit hands. _This power... it's unreal. I feel even better than before. This is incredible... No. This is a gift from death. Who knows what this stuff'll do to me... Steven said it was the souls of the dead empowering this..._ thing _... There must've been a lot of death I wasn't aware about._

Jasper growled, panting severely from the overuse of her Comet Charge. Her Gem Destabilizer shock baton skidded away. The strain was taking a toll on her body now, and it was not treating her well. "What is this? Another trick up your sleeve? Are you another Moonstone now, absorbing _my_ attacks?"

Lapis raised a hand, which was burning with dark fire, and pointed it at Jasper. "This is death. Literally. Not kidding."

Jasper's entire body lit up, as she struggled to use Comet Charge one last time. The Homeworld Gem arched back a fist, aiming it at Lapis. She was confident she could hit her before she could trigger what attack she had behind that death-alluding aura.

SCHNIKKT! A slick ice spike penetrated Jasper from behind, bathe with the aura of darkness that counteracted her Comet Charge. It pinned Jasper to the ground, piercing a giant hole in her torso. Jasper grunted in agony, pounding her fist against the ground.

Jasper bared her teeth at Lapis, blood surging down her chin. "What the heck _are_ you?"

The deadly water witch aimed her hand against Jasper's face. The Homeworld Gem braced for impact, but didn't expect more sharp pains raining down her body. Ice spikes after ice spikes, kept stabbing through Jasper. One by one. A yell after another. Until finally... _poof_.

Jasper's gemstone dropped to the wet sand.

Lapis gave a sigh of relief, her aura of death leaving her as it was unneeded. She saw Amethyst and Peridot standing around, and decided to talk to them.

"Hey, when did _you_ get here?" Lapis asked Peridot, thinking it was Peridot nine-two-eight; the Peridot she knew.

Peridot's eyes widened as she realized Lapis was referring to her. "M-me?" she whimpered, pointing at herself. After watching the strongest Gem she knew get slaughtered right in front of her eyes by this Earth Gem, she didn't want to cross her. Lapis glanced at Amethyst, her eyes seemingly asking the question, "What's wrong with her?"

"Oh, this isn't Peridot. This is... _another_ Peridot." Amethyst explained, scratching her head. The purple Gem looked at the technician, wanting to talk to her about something

Unbeknownst to them, Pearl was up, and even with her battered body, she picked up Jasper's shock baton and snuck up on the enemy, Lapis Lazuli.

ZZIIING... the Gem Destabilizer hummed as Pearl swung it like a bat against Lapis' head. The ocean Gem staggered backward, falling into Pearl's arms. Yellow lines ran down her body, a painless poofing with her own body parts dissecting themselves. Amethyst flew into rage.

"PEARL!" the purple Gem burst, rushing to Lapis' side.

Lapis choked. "You... _asshole_ , Garn—"

Poof.

* * *

 **A/N:** **This was an eventful chapter. Jasper's been a beast.**

 **Oh, and the reveal _I've_ been waiting for. Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG! I'm pretty sure you've all seen this coming, as I hinted it since, like, seven months ago! Back in Chapter 24 " _Sayonara, Earth_ ", Peridot told Steven if needed to contact her, her number was "928". And it's nothing like the canon Peridot's number, which we had already known at the time. And uh...**

 **Who am I kidding? This one's too messed up to even predict. I'm pretty sure I opened a Pandora's Box of plot twists being qualified. Like, people are gonna start saying "Pearl isn't the real Pearl we know" or "Lapis isn't the real Lapis because her backstory doesn't line up". Oh, I can see it now... what have I done. Oh well, too late.**

"Wait, you mean to tell _me_ , the Peridot you forced us to read... the same Peridot you paired up with Amethyst... made the Amedot... the same one you made us cheer _Team Gem Squad_ for... wasn't the Peridot in the show at all?" you ask.

 **Well. Yeah. It's garbage.**

 **Also, I've been doing other important stuff for the past week, which is why this was... late? Not gonna disclose private information. And not to worry, this important stuff I was doing doesn't have to do with anything depressing like _health issues_ or _deaths in the family_. I know, I've seen quite a few of those things around here concerning other authors. I'm getting worried myself. I mean, am I _really_ going to spend the rest of the year writing this?**

 **Yes.**

 **I had hoped to finish this arc this month, but that ain't happening. Still have a lot more chapters to go. I looked at my notes, and uh... This is the ninth chapter of the arc. And uh... I can't believe I'm disclosing this, but... twelve more to go.**

 **This is... _what_. That can't be true. Why's there so much content?**

*Weeping as I check again* **_Really_? Noooo. No. Come on, brain. _Why_? _Twenty-one_ chapters for an arc? Are you _kidding_ me? People make _money_ out of that. That's like... 100k _words_. And that's only the Civil War arc? What about the Diamonds? Or the Cluster?**

((Okay, the cluster arc is probably gonna have lesser content. Like, the most would be 4k word chapters.))

 **And as you can see here, the _C-V_ is dying. Motivation might help make faster chapters. SOS**

* * *

New Episode Stuff:

 _Gem Hunt:_ Pearl is best mom.

 _Crack The Whip:_ Jasper lives in the ocean now.

 _Steven vs Amethyst:_ The episode everyone was hyped about. I remember the theories from last year that everyone thought Amethyst was going to betray the Crystal Gems. Pffft, I never believed in superstition anyway.

 _Bismuth:_ Good thing Lapis never met her, eh?

 _Beta:_ Jasper's born on Earth? Who would'a guessed?

 _Earthlings:_ A + S = Smokey Quartz. Jasper's corruption. Pink Diamond. I'm getting confused with my own story.

 _Back To The Moon:_ Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond? Woah. I mean, it's confirmed. Heavy stuff. Now, all the "Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond" theories are null. Unless, Rose Quartz _is_ Pink Diamond, and she defeated herself in a mental battle. Or something like that.

* * *

Replies to Guests:

 _Thatoneguy:_ Well, my sense of time is pretty much screwed lately because of the summer holidays. And for also doing some art designs for a friend. And also Steven Universe airing almost every day.

 _my biggest fan:_ Yes, milord. I shall do.

 _David Blackwood:_ Welp, here's the newest chapter... How is it?

* * *

Breaking News: Because (officially) episode 51 of the show is _The Return_. And as I've stated, I made ironic twists. In the original, Jasper captures the Crystal Gems. Here, Jasper gets captured by the Earth Gems. And since this chapter is titled _The Return_ know what that means? Next chapter is...

Next Chapter's Title: "Jailbreak"


	54. Special: 55 Cancri e

**A/N: "What's this?" you ask, as you reread the chapter title. "A special? At this time? Why? I want chapter 52! Because it's _Jailbreak_ , man! You can't leave us hanging from that shitshow last chapter!"**

 **"Uh... because we reached 100,000 views?" I tell you.**

 **You hold your chin, then shrug. "Ah, well. I guess so." You look down. "So, I get that this is for _100,000 views_. But... why is this _also_ for _100_ reviews? We passed that a long time ago."**

 **"Oh, because... I didn't have anything to show for 100 reviews. Actually, now that I think about it..." I turn. " _SsjGokux20_!"**

 **"Aye, sire?" the artist asks.**

 **"Make art for the status of the Steven Lazuli cast according to the latest chapter of the hundred mark reviews' dates!" I tell him. "It's easy, just find _GlassHawk_ 's reviews that claim he took the hundred reviews."**

 **"Aye," _SsjGokux20_ chugs root beer and backflips out of the tavern.**

 **I look at you, and you wear a bewildered expression at _SsjGokux20_ 's direction. I point at where SsjGokux20 last left off. "He's my go-to artist. We know each other IRL."**

 **"Ah," you say.**

 **I cough, "Anyway, this is going to the more "AU" stuff. You know, like the AU backstory I gave in chapter 20. Yeah, that route of AU. _Diamond_ AU."**

 **"Well, I'm out." You immediately flop out of the window.**

 **"It's only two thousand words of it! The rest are all my notes on scrapped ideas or something like that!"**

 **"Why isn't this on the chapter 55 holder of the fanfiction site? Wouldn't that make it even better? Send chapter 52 "Jailbreak" first before posting this, it would be *that* much better." you tell me.**

 **"Oh... shit."**

* * *

Special: _55 Cancri e_

 _For 100,000 Views and 100 Reviews_

* * *

Forty light years from Earth, there was a solar system that held a particularly powerful race. It was an undiscovered part from Homeworld's radar, but the Diamonds have always restricted the advance of exploration onto this solar system—no, the whole _subset_ of the _galaxy_ , lest the Gems against their orders would want to get shattered. Yellow Diamond had locked the whole investigation on this solar system down, and if there was any mention of it, even a little whisper between private conversations, she would have them shattered immediately. It became a rule for over the millennium, so long that nobody dared question the rule. There were seventy-three confirmed shatters from Yellow Diamond... keyword was " _confirmed_ ".

This solar system was entitled as _55 Cancri_ , of Earth's terminology. To the Gem Homeworld, it was called "death zone". Any Gem that stuck their head out to the death zone would have their heads decapitated and their gemstones harvested before they know it. Yellow Diamond was amused by the terminology and kept it that way, and the other Diamonds... They like to keep silent about the topic.

Humans have identified this solar system and found a particularly interesting planet they named 55 Cancri e (which was now renamed to Janssen). Commander Jacob Samson, while he was still alive, ordered a report on this planet, and received from his scientists a statement. This planet, the fourth one away from its sun, was made up with carbon. _Pure_ carbon.

Diamond. Planet.

* * *

On _Janssen_ , a lone red creature crouched against the lava pool, swirling her finger around the thousand degree celsius liquid. Smoke smeared all over her face from her touch with the pool, before she retrieved her finger and inspected it. She remained unscathed, and instead glued her eyes to the swirling lava pond, watching the red and orange combustion bubble and glow interesting lights. The lone creature kept watching until a year went by on 55 Cancri e.

The gravity was much higher here than or Earth, due to its mass being around eight times that of Earth's. Nevertheless, this lone red person stood up her tall height with relative ease, but not so much that she floated away. It seemed like this was normal to her. She was tuned to this planet. This was her home.

Born and raised here on _Janssen_ , or what these Diamonds call their " _Homeworld"_ , Red Diamond was as average as anyone on the planet was. They sit around and observe, walking off the two thousand degree celsius temperature of this planet, and sustain a healthy lifestyle of eighteen Earth hours as their year, as their planet goes around their star, _55 Cancri A_ , or _Copernicus_ , in that short amount of time. They also call it _sun_ , and sometimes _star_ , since it was Diamond programming to do so.

Red Diamond packed up her stones and left the lava pool, only to encounter a giant crack in the ground a few hours later. She inspected it closely and found even more melting magma that enamored her.

"Hey. Hey!"

Red Diamond looked up for the sound, eyes widening to observe the vicinity and learn this new fascination to her ears. She quickly saw another one of her kind on the opposite ledge, which she didn't see before. This other Diamond was purple. Purple Diamond.

Red waved subconsciously.

Purple kept her grin on. She clapped her hands. "So, uh, do you have a name?"

Red shrugged.

"Oh, so... Red, then. I guess. I like to call myself _Space_... You know, cause it's purple. Like me!" Purple Diamond informed.

Red looked up at the sky, which was an endless black and blue. The color purple was very little seen from her angle. She set her eyes down to Purple " _Space_ " Diamond, and shook her head.

"So, Red's _not_ your name?" Purple Diamond tilted her head awkwardly. "Uh... Can you talk?"

Red Diamond licked her lips, then opened her mouth. "Yes."

Purple frowned, " _Then_... why don't you?"

Red stared down into the lava creek between them. Purple followed her eyes to the stream of magma, the crack in the planet. She looked at Red and awaited her answer. The scarlet Diamond replied, "I like the peace."

"Oh," Purple wrinkled her small nose. "Then, what's your name?"

Red contemplated at the space between the two of them, and answered, "I'm designated as Red Diamond."

"Hah, very well, Red Diam—"

"Can you leave?" Red Diamond asked abruptly.

Purple's grin gradually left her face, being replaced with a sorrowful frown. She'd never really been told to go away that morosely. "Wh... um... _I_... s-sure."

Purple started to get up from her side of the ledge, and dejectedly walk away. She respected others' privacy, and if they tell her to go away, then she'd do it if it meant giving others peace. And Red seemed to really like her peace. The violet Diamond was about a hundred meters away, when Red suddenly piped up.

"Do you know anything about fusion?" she asked.

Purple slightly glanced back, surprised that Red was staring at her. And really intensely to add to that. She had beautiful ambient orange eyes. Purple raised a brow at Red's twist of nature, and responded, "No. I've never heard of fusion."

Red dangled her legs off the ledge for a moment, before referring to the rocks she was carrying around. She dusted the ash off and revealed it to be a diamond. Purple jumped back, fear gripping her by the chest and freezingher there. She'd heard stories of what happens after a Diamond's death. Their physical forms vanish and all that's left would be their diamond. Did she encourage a talk to a _murderer_? She should've kept walking. Was this why Red liked peace so much, to contemplate on her kills? And carry dead diamonds around as tokens? Or it could be a prank... They can't be real. All those couldn't be _diamonds_. There were too much.

Red Diamond noticed her discomfort. "Yes, they're real."

Purple caught a breath in her throat. Would Red kill her for disturbing her peace? She didn't want to die... not now, not while all she did was try to start a talk. There was still a gap between them, Red might not make the jump.

"They were my friends," Red informed, surprising Purple. This scarlet Diamond would kill her friends... she was more messed up in the head than she first thought! Red continued, "They were killed by _Blue Diamond_."

Purple never heard of this _Blue Diamond_. However, she guessed it was inevitable.

"Why'd you tell me to leave?" Purple asked out of the blue.

"I wasn't ready," Red replied. "It's been years..."

"Years _do_ go by quick." Purple reminded.

Red snorted at Purple's commentary. "I wanted to kill Blue Diamond... I still do..."

"But?"

Red raised a brow at Purple, then sighed, "I can't kill her. I've tried. The future's already set in stone... There was a _prophecy_. That Blue Diamond's demise would be to a fusion from the stars."

"Oooh!" Purple enthusiastically walked back towards her spot on the ledge, opposite to Red Diamond. "Was there anything else to this prophecy?"

Red Diamond leaned backwards, trying to remember it from the top of her diamond. "Whosoever defeats the exiled Diamond is the king of Homeworld. They would be claimed as Diamond of the Diamonds."

Purple Diamond looked blankly at Red. "I... _don't_ get it."

"Me neither. It implies we're kings—"

"Wait!" Purple's eyes brightened as powerful as the star. "I-I get it! I think I know now! A fusion from the stars... We're all born from star dust, and I'm a fusion of red and blue! I might be the one from the prophecy..."

"If that worked, some of my friends are would've massacred Blue Diamond thousands of years ago." Red informed, glancing at the rocks she carried around.

"Well, that's okay. I don't like killing, just like how you like peace." Purple told her.

Red returned to staring down at the lava pit, and so did Purple. All that was heard between them was the soft humming of magma.

Later, Red continued her trek across the planet, leaving Purple with this new and handy information. Hopefully, the warning of Blue Diamond's new empire on Diamond Homeworld would spread to the Diamonds who were uninformed. Until this "fusion from the stars" comes crashing down into their planet and defeats the "exiled Diamond" and claim to be the "Diamond of Diamonds", then Red would have to persevere. She wanted to live until the day Blue Diamond dies, and if it took an eternity, then so be it.

She'll wait.

She didn't have to for much longer, with the increased gravity of the planet, time moved faster than other places. And before she knew it, space opened up with a bright light and closed up a second later. From the stars, their fusion arrived.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh, the Diamond Planet _55 Cancri e._.. Recently renamed _Janssen_. Also, found out a year for the superplanet is 18 hours, its surface has a temperature that's about 1,700 degrees celsius, has almost eight times more mass than Earth, and is probably a volcanic wasteland.**

 **Not confirmed if it has oxygen...**

 **Anyway, since this is an AU of Steven Universe, which is an AU of reality... we could make _some_ changes, right?**

 **Alright, you caught me, I know next to nothing about this planet. I just wanted to put my foot down here and brag about how I made this converging idea first. Unless someone else made the idea before me, then... _crap_ , now I'm not a unique and special snowflake.**

 **Also, cheap setup for future events.**

 **Also, my birthday is coming up on the 18th August! And so is another user... not sure if I should say who, but I had found through _stalking_ —No, I didn't say that. And _Percy Jackson_ has the same birthday as well, even though uh... he's a fictional character. Still, August 18, yeah!**

 **Anyway, onto this thing here... Yeah, _really_ AU stuff. _Very_. So much that it feels so... _corny_. And _cliché_ , for some reason. BUT, I've had this idea of multiple Diamonds, taking place hundred millennia years ago, _before_ I even thought of this story. I even published it at one point... then promptly deleted it afterwards. I remember calling Red Diamond "Sera", backwards of Ares; Greek god of war. And I had this really big twist around Rose.**

 **I mean, this is stupid. So far-fetched and also a bigger mindfog than the Peridot nine-two-eight thing last chapter. If you wanna hear some stupid shift, then here goes... I had _Rose Diamond_.**

 **No! Wait, wait, before you go. This Rose Diamond is not the same as Rose Quartz. Instead, in this "AU", colored Gems go to their respective colored Diamonds. There was orange, purple, green, all eventually forgotten through history in a later time... and _Rose Diamond_? She had no subordinates, and had a realm to herself, where its free to do anything. Then there was Black "Ash" Diamond, which was the main antagonist.**

 **Other Diamonds fought and died against Black, more Gems became loyal to Rose. Rose fought against a threat, and almost died against it. In a last-ditch effort, she had to preserve herself. She sacrificed herself to give birth to Rose Quartz.**

 **I know right? What the hellcrap is that? A full-circle? Symbolism to the Rose Quartz and Steven thing, some history on why she sacrificed herself to conceive him... No, no... there are some things people do not cross. And I've done that multiple times, I'm sorry. But, uh... it sounded good to me at one point in my life. I convinced myself it made sense. Actually, it might be even better than _this_ idea.**

 **I'm a master of ludicrous trash.**

 **I had this other weird idea a while back, and it was that Pearl wasn't made in a Kindergarten. Pearls were made by giant space oysters. I don't know what I was thinking back then. But it seemed plausible to me.**

 **And the plot of this 55 Cancri E thing wasn't like this. Originally, I thought of a solar system sized Diamond that would pop out of the superplanet that was too OP to be beat, made by Yellow Diamond. How does the cast beat them? Well, they don't. I never thought of how. So, scrapped! Superweapon too strong.**

 **What am I doing with this author's note... I'm discussing rejected ideas? Well, this is a special** **and not a chapter, so I guess anything goes. Just like the other special.**

 **I had this idea for the Yellow Diamond arc to be some sort of potential-tapping serum she's after. And then Steven was somehow becoming stronger and stronger as time passes, and then it's revealed that he already took it and the whole arc was just a flunk. Actually, I might use that. Hold on, erase your memories, you never read that!**

 **OH! Oh, this one is recent. I had this idea for a Special called: " _The Tourmaline Tournament_ ". To me, it sounded like a great title because, you know, alliteration.**

 **It was a tournament to see who's the strongest Gem in the Steven Lazuli cast. Much like... _Dragon Ball Multiverse_. Then I found out that a lot of the characters can cheat their way out of it. Here's a draft I made... two weeks ago, I think?**

* * *

Added notes: It's a plot hole extravagant.

* * *

It was a beautiful day on the entire planet Earth, which was impossible since you can't have natural daylight all around the world. Half of it's drowned in darkness and the other half is facing the sun's way, so there's no way for the whole Earth to have a beautiful day, because technically it's day and night for it at the same time. It's like schrödinger's cat, radiation causes the cat to be half dead and half alive simultaneously. For the Earth, it's half day and half night.

Garnet was hovering in the Earth's atmosphere, surveying the planet. Her sunglasses glimmered in the sun's light, as she contemplated at incoming threats. She lightly snorted at what she foresaw. Then, she went back to her usual stoic composure.

"This is bad," she remarked solemnly. "I'll have to alert the others."

* * *

"So, a tournament?" Pearl asked.

"Yes," Garnet confirmed, as she looked to the Gems she gathered. "This is the place."

"How odd that you bring the strongest fighters on this planet together to fight an evil... which is a tournament." Lapis said, with crossed arms. She looked around to her comrades. "I'm sure we're not here to stop the tournament. You just brought us here to compete, didn't you?"

"Hey," Garnet shrugged. "I had to do something to bring you all here."

"Why'd you have to do it?" Peridot inquired nasally. "What do you get from getting all of us here?"

The fusion adjusted her shades. "Someone had to advance the plot, and _I_ was chosen."

Peridot, Pearl and Lapis glanced at each other, before taking a look at who was invited. Steven, Amethyst and Connie were talking, Onyx and Kyanite were just standing around, Emerald was a sitting duck, Pyrite and Howlite were playing with energy, Moonstone was twirling his moustache, Hematite sat on a rock, Jade was sharpening her sword, and Black Pearl checked her surroundings.

"Hmm. Sixteen in total." Lapis informed.

"Sixteen? I thought there'd be more." Garnet crossed her arms. "I thought I saw a few extras in my future vision."

POOF! A blue magician appeared out of a cloud of pixie dust and topped her hat.

"Hello, seventeen is here!" Aquamarine informed happily, doing a curtsey.

" _Aquamarine_!" Lapis snapped and gritted her teeth. She bolted for the magician, but Garnet stopped her from getting any closer to the vile Gem. Lapis hissed, "What are _you_ doing here?!"

"What am _I_ doing here?" Aqua asked rhetorically, smirking. "Why, isn't this a tournament? I could've sworn it was. Because _I'm_ entering."

"OH YEAH?!" Lapis shouted, gaining the attention of the other Gems. "WELL, I'M ENTERING _TOO_! SEE YOU IN THE RING!" she coughed, her voice straining. "You're going to die, _AQUAMARINE_."

The sight of the magician made Connie's blood boil. Aquamarine noticed and snapped her fingers, casting a spell to rid of the girl's memories of her. She didn't do it to Lapis because she found it amusing.

Connie turned to Steven and Amethyst. "Isn't this tournament a _little_ unfair?" she asked them. "I mean, look at who we're gonna be up against," she pointed at the strongest Gems in sight. "There's Onyx, with her mind manipulation that'll make you forfeit. Kyanite, who can portal you away so you would get a ring out or you'd be disqualified for not being seen in the field. Garnet, who can stop time and beat you up in that time stop thing. Emerald, who has superspeed that'll beat the crap outta you, like Garnet. Lapis, who can control the world's oceans. Hematite, who can control the Earth's crust and magma. Aquamarine, who can use magic to do whatever the heck she wants. Moonstone, who can reflect any kinetic energy you throw at him, so any attack that needs movement is futile."

"Wow, I didn't think of it that way." Steven remarked.

"There's also Pearl with her Gem destabilizer armor." Amethyst reminded them. "Even though it won't work on you Connie, the rest of us'll be waiting for an ass whoopin'."

"It won't work on me or Black Pearl either." Steven replied.

" _Hacks_!" Amethyst retorted, "I call _hacks_!"

"Can't Pyrite just charge up all her energy in a single blow? She could definitely destroy anyone given enough time." Connie added. "And you can just grow into a giant and literally crush anyone under your foot."

"It won't do much to the heavy-hitters here," Amethyst said sadly. "And giant form really is just a one-hit wonder. After that, can't use it for a long while. And now that we've talked about almost everyone... it seems Howlite is the only normal one we could beat."

"Howlite can fly."

"Drat. Then maybe Jade?"

"She could go invisible, and knock us out at supersonic speed."

"Hmm... Peridot?"

"I heard my name," Peridot butted in their conversation. "What are you clods talking about? Making strategies on how to beat everyone?"

"Nah, more like contemplating at our potential deaths." Amethyst replied.

"You know what's the best countermeasure to all of them?" Peridot asked, before smirking. They watched her pull out a _real_ Gem destabilizer. A perfected one, which can easily poof a Gem in a single stab. The one Jasper used against Garnet in the show. " _This_ is the best cheat against these clods." she assured.

"Except for Connie, me and Black Pearl," said the demigem.

"That's what the rest of my arsenal is for," Peridot retorted.

"You won't use that on me, right?"

"If the tournament's reward isn't that satisfying, then I won't really use this." Peridot said as she waved the yellow stick around. "But if it's something invaluable, like a _real_ wish, then this baby's going to take a ride."

Aquamarine did a bit of magic pixie dust tricks, then smiled at Lapis and Garnet provokingly.

"You know, when you look at the tournament, you see... a tournament. But me, oh I see _greatness_!" she exclaimed.

"You're going to be the one to manipulate how this tournament's going to go, aren't you." Lapis accused more than question.

"I can't do that," Aqua replied, putting her hands up placatingly. "There's a Gem keeping this all nice and clean. I hear the bugger's name is _Tourmaline_."

"Tourmaline?" Garnet asked. "Don't recall."

"Of course you don't. And I bet you can't see 'im either."

"I already know the future. And what's gonna happen is the best route to take. If I say anything about the future, it would cause massive amounts of damage."

"Did you just destroy our chances by saying that?"

"Trust me, we're safe."

* * *

 **Wow, expert writing here. The whole thing was predicted by the start already.**

 **Oh, and about the Rose Quartz shattering Pink Diamond in the series. I feel there's something sketchy. Like, in _Game of Thrones_ where Ned Stark saying that Jon Snow was his bastard child sketchy. We all know how that turned out. ****Even though there were witnesses to Pink Diamond's murder, I think I know how this could be twisted on the Rose Quartz was framed. And it actually spoils what I'm about to do later on in the story, so... hah. Actually... in hindsight, it doesn't really have to do with Pink Diamond's murder, it's just that I've had this bad idea I wanted to put for months now, just like that Peridot one last chapter.**

 **Anyways, moving on, let's see what other rejected ideas I have...** **Oh! Emerald having a race with Grimm Reaper, outrunning death! You know where I got that idea from.**

 **Uh, looks like Rose is confirmed as a Super Saiyan, guys. Look up Super Saiyan Rose.**

 **Anyway, so going back to the ongoing arc right now. We're only 9 out of 21 chapters the way there. And, I actually had a scrapped idea for this too! _SsjGokux20_ actually made a photo of Pearl vs Connie and Steven on the moon, in a similar fashion to Iron Man vs Cap and Buck in the end of the Civil War movie. And yes, I had planned for that homage. But it didn't feel right to me, Steven and Connie fighting Pearl didn't feel right, they would have to be really angry, and triggering that emotion is hard... Oh yeah, and Lapis isn't in the picture of that final fight. And if you put two and two together...**

 **It would look really personal and I didn't need that because I already had Stevonnie vs Onyx. The same feelings were there.**

 **Oh! And in this draft, I had Steven and Connie fuse early on to escape the Revolution, only for Stevonnie to be loyal to Pearl's ideology. Steven and Connie unfuse, and decide that Stevonnie was too risky to use in this war. And that was the original idea of why fusions weren't allowed. Why they don't fuse to win the war easily.**

 **I made the decision to leave Connie out of the Civil War, and it helped me out of some drama.**

 **How am I gonna end this off...**

 **This is an AU. Bye.**


	55. Chapter 52: Jailbreak

**A/N:** **HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO _STEVEN QUARTZ UNIVERSE_... who's canon birthday is on _August 15_ , just like his inspiration, Steven Sugar; who is Rebecca Sugar's brother. ((Which, uh, _finally_ , I can put in here, since the January birthday thing was a faux to fill the hole of his birthday.))**

 **Also, during _August 18_ , it's the birthday for _Percy Jackson_ , me, and another user! So, happy belated birthday to us all!**

* * *

Chapter 52: Jailbreak

* * *

Lapis couldn't feel anything.

She was trapped again. _Great_.

 _Good job, Garnet, for warning me._ Lapis mused. _You know what? Seriously, screw you, Garnet. I know you can't hear me, but... Huh?_ Steven _?_

In the deep dark abyss of her dreamscape, Lapis could see Steven's limp body floating in space. Apprehensively, she floated over to him, hoping to the stars this wasn't another nightmare or another vision pulled by Onyx. The ocean Gem put her hands on the demigem's shoulders, shaking him to and fro in a gentle way to wake him. Hopefully he doesn't kill her when he stirs.

Steven's eyes blinked open, tiredly.

"Wh... What? _Lapis_?" Steven asked, his eyes darting around frantically. "Where am I? What is this? Why... Why can't I..." He held his mouth, his cheeks puffing out from the lack of air. He couldn't breathe. All he had left was his last breath in his lungs.

 _I... I don't know, Steven. I don't know where we are. Or what this place is... Could be the innards of my brain actually. Well, we got that one down. But please, find me! Steven, I'm trapped!_ Lapis shouted, but no words came from her mouth. Instead, it echoed through the walls of her mind, in this dark dimension.

The demigem nodded, feeling his lungs ache and scream for air. His vision started fading. He was blacking out. His eyes, bloodshot, and his skin, turning into a sick blue.

 _St-Steven, if you can hear me... I... I'm... in the Revolution. Pearl poofed me..._

His eyelids struggled to stay open. The boy took hold of Lapis' arm, and she was cupping his face with her real hand... well, both her hands were real now. She couldn't feel him. And he couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel... his body.

 _Steven... Get help..._

His grip loosened, weakening.

 _STEVEN!_

* * *

"WAAOoh..." Steven's head shot up from the desk, waking up in a cold sweat.

The demigem panted heavily, clutching his chest as he felt his lungs burning from suffocation. He almost died, in real life, all because of... some _weird_ dream. He immediately stood up from his chair, subconsciously rolling up his white sleeves so that it wouldn't soak in his sweat and stick to his skin. He sighed, getting out of his tent and looking up at the night sky.

It was midnight, stars were shimmering brightly in his perspective from inside the Kindergarten, and the moon contrasted beautifully against the jet black sky. But, today, that radiant satellite seemed much brighter than he remembered. Something was off about this... like it appeared out of nowhere. Recently, this past week while he was safe in the Kindergarten, he hadn't seen the moon because Lapis was covering it with storm clouds to keep out their signals.

Then that's when it hit him.

There were no storm clouds swirling above the Kindergarten. The Revolution could sense them with their Gem tracker. And if the storm clouds were gone... _Lapis_ was gone.

He couldn't let this go unsaid, there weren't any other Gems to rely on and he and Emerald were the only powerful beings left in this team. The demigem frantically leaped to the highest point in the Kindergarten that could garner much attention from the rebels, the boxes of donuts, and looked down at the Kindergarten, which was radiating orange light to keep them company. And mostly to fend against the dark atmosphere of the Kindergarten.

"Gems!" Steven exclaimed, hauling their focus to him. And as all eyes were set on him, Steven could feel a sense of leadership. It was a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He instead pointed to the sky, in which all the Gems followed and were in awe of the moon.

"Yeah, looks beautiful tonight," one of the jaspers said.

"No! That's not the point. Lapis' storm clouds are gone!" Steven informed, racking up whispers between Gems. "That means, _Lapis_ is _gone_. Taken by the Revolution. And if she's gone, we have nothing to protect us from being caught in the Revolution's radar!"

The Gems looked around each other, already fearing another war. They were also fearing their other leader, Emerald, much more, now that they didn't have a Lapis to save their skin. Now that Lapis was gone, Emerald was to rightfully take control of the place, as Steven wouldn't be able to rival his powers. But they had to put their faith in Lapis' protégé. They lost a good leader, _Ruby_ , and now they lost Lapis. They didn't want to turn to Emerald. They had to turn to him.

"What do we do?" a quartz asked.

Steven looked to his side, a reflex to see what were any of his friends' advice. He was immediately stooped as, _really_ , he had nobody else but himself to count on. He was alone. He couldn't turn to Emerald, Lapis warned not to trust him. He couldn't go to Connie, not now. And the rest of the Gems he looked up to were simply not here, on the other side, or in space, lightyears away. There was no Ruby, no Lapis, no Peridot, no Amethyst, no Pearl, no Sapphire. No independent Gem he had depended on when times were tough. All the Gems here were looking up to _him_ , not anyone else, expecting a solution.

He was _Steven Lazuli_. His real mother, Rose, was the leader of the Rebellion. Lapis was an independent Gem who could always find a way out. Ruby was his mother's first lieutenant, and led an entire Rebellion while he mother was away. Amethyst led the Crystal Gems, Pearl led the Revolution, Sapphire led the future, and Peridot... well, Steven just missed her.

But him? He wasn't any of them. He was a kid, pushed to deal with this stuff for the past twelve years of his life. He didn't want to control an entire army, what if they didn't like what he was telling them to do? What if he said something wrong and the other Gems did exactly that, or misinterpret what he said? He didn't have enough experience to be the leader of this one hundred Gem Rebellion, and even Lapis couldn't handle this position.

"Hey, Steven!" a ruby exclaimed. "We're waiting for your orders!"

The demigem snapped back to reality, gulping in the nonexistent saliva that amounted in his dry mouth. What to do? They really were expecting him to take control of the situation. What would Ruby do? What would Lapis do? What would mom do? What would anyone do? He didn't know, but his first thought was to _move immediately because they couldn't stay here much longer._

 _Or, we could stay here and build a fort for a last stand—no, that would trap all of us in here, and we need to live. But moving would make us vulnerable as the Revolution could track us and probably attack us. We need a new cloaking device, but Peridot isn't here to make us that. Who am I gonna turn to? And what about Lapis? She's the only one able to cloak all our Gem signals, so we have to get her first! She's important to hiding us from the Revolution, but I can't command these Gems to confront the Revolution, that's suicide! And if we run, we'll have to tun forever! We have to get_ Lapis _!_

"Ey, he's just a kid." a jasper stated, walking up to the side of the podium to gain everyone else's attention. "I heard that he's only ten years old. And in that age, by Gem terms, he still ain't out of his hole. Probably shouldn't give the role of leader to him yet. Because he ain't Rose Quartz. He's _Steven_ , the first _real_ hybrid Gem."

"Then who should we turn to?" a purple quartz asked. " _Emerald_?" she added sarcastically, moving up to the jasper. "We can't even keep our _hands_ from shaking around him! We all know that psychopath is only doing it for his own thing, he doesn't care about us! And the rest of us, we're all followers. We don't _have_ the capacity to _lead_ all of us!"

The same jasper stood against the quartz. "That's a big statement you've made there... none of us have the capacity to _lead_ a whole troop?" she repeated after her, glaring down at the smaller Gem. "Well, you're right. That is the son of Rose Quartz, most qualified among us. He's got experience saving this world, at least, more than I have."

"Then, what shall it be, _Prince of the Crystal Gems_?" another jasper asked, the one who first nicknamed Steven as a prince in the battlefield. The demigem was astonished that someone would actually use that at a time like this, but the others actually took it seriously and _not_ a joke or a witty callback to being Rose Quartz's son. To them, it was his legitimate title, and he didn't know what to feel about officially being called _prince_.

"I'm not really a _Crystal Gem_..." was Steven's first response. Most of the rebels were surprised by this statement. Mostly because it was his birthright, being the son of Rose Quartz and all. They expected _that_ from him at least.

"How could you not?" a _Blue_ Pearl asked, standing out of her comfort zone and speaking up. A few Gems, who were still not used to this, looked at her funny. "You have Rose Quartz's _Gem_. Her _shield_. Her _symbol_. Those are what _made_ the Crystal Gems. If you're not one of them, then... it's like the Diamonds not being part of Homeworld. _You are a Crystal Gem_. To all of us."

"Yeah!" a ruby standing next to her cheered. "Prince of the Crystal Gems!"

The blue Pearl smiled, "Yes. Prince of the Crystal Gems."

"Prince of the Crystal Gems," Steven mused, contemplating at them all. They crowned him that so suddenly, he didn't feel like it was going to stick, but it did.

"Yeah, but don't get too cocky. This isn't a coronation for you being king," said the jasper that gave birth to the idea of the title.

"What's the difference between them?" the demigem whispered inquisitively.

The jasper shrugged. "I dunno. But you practically are one."

A snarky jade said, "At least you won't consciously decide to flee from battle and leave your injured for dead."

Rubies huddled together and whispered to each other, before their leader came out and asked Steven, "What do we do now? We're losing time from our signals being tracked by the Revolution now."

Steven clicked his tongue at himself for not thinking of a way to help them right now. He finally settled his decision, and that was to get Lapis out of the Revolution so that they could go into hiding again.

"Well, if we want to hide from the Revolution's radars, we'd have to get Lapis back. And somehow, they trapped her. We're running on a clock, so we'll have to get moving and get Lapis back as soon as we can." Steven told them, struggling not to waver his voice. "The Revolution would be expecting us, so I think we'd be stepping into a trap..."

Suddenly, a green blur appeared to Steven's side, revealing to be Emerald, only without her suit. The Gems below silenced immediately, jumping back. The jaspers and rubies around the podium had their bodies hunched a bit to spring an attack, only to back away when they noticed it was Emerald. A few Gems stared at the demigem and the speedster, fearing that they had done something wrong, or Emerald was going to do something to Steven which would cause her to gain control of the place. The boy was wary of the speed demon, already being warned countless times not to trust her.

Emerald looked around the Kindergarten, her eyes skimming around the Gems that were standing around the podium, before proclaiming, "Oh, so you've noticed that Lapis is gone."

"Yes," Steven said as a reflex, having nothing to say to the speedster.

"Hmph," was her reply to his reaction. Emerald looked at him warily, before turning around and addressing to the other Gems. "I guess that means... _I'm_ supposed to save you guys... _However_ , I'd rather it be someone else." She patted the demigem on the shoulder. "What about _you_ , Steven? Call the shots."

"Oh, uh..." Steven didn't expect her to be so friendly towards him, since everyone made it seem like she was a villain. And there was that time he broke her arms during Ambergeddon, he thought she had some beef with him for that. Spinel had a grudge against him because he beat him on Dexterity Castle, so why wouldn't Emerald have it? Instead, she helped him out, like bringing him around to Connie's place and explaining things to him. He thought Emerald would take control of the whole rebellion, but she just lent it to him, giving him all the responsibility of taking care of a hundred Gems' actions.

The rebels stood still, watching the speedster's actions intently, waiting for her to snap and tell the rest of them that she was kidding and going to give them hell. It drove them crazy, they had thought she wanted power and control, but now that she gave it to Steven... they had no idea what her motives were.

"I guess... I mean..." Steven uttered, looking at other Gems for help. He felt lost, without any of the Gems he had been in regular contact with in this rebellion. Lapis, Kyanite, Ruby, Black Pearl... They were gone. He was alone to deal with this place, destined to lead a rebellion like his mother. He subconsciously left a hand on his stomach, holding his gemstone close.

Everyone kept looking at him for a response. Emerald was standing in front of him, waiting for him to say something. Her stare was intimidating up close, as if she peered into his soul. So, he made one as quickly as he could, not wanting to waste their time.

"I'll call the shots," the demigem finally said.

"Great!" Emerald stated, nodding her head. She turned towards the rebels, and asked, "Would anyone like to object?"

No one answered.

The Kindergarten was as quiet as the time Team Gem Squad walked through Kronos Quad minutes after it was massacred. The demigem could hear the subtle winds and the low humming of some unearthly noise underground.

"Alright! Steven, you're in charge now." Emerald said, her voice cutting through the silence like a knife through warm butter. "Now, I'd like to chime in that our first move should be... to start running to a new hideout. Since, the Kindergarten is now compromised and the Revolution could arrive at any minute. So, Steven, what would you say about that?"

The demigem was creeped out about the speedster's joyful tone and behavior. He felt like she had just done a vicious and brutal murder seconds before coming here. And that she would do the same to him if he didn't comply.

"Uh. _Yes_. I think that would be a good place to start, uh, looking for a good place. Haha." he hurriedly answered, faking a laugh at the end. He looked down at himself and realized he just screwed up his plan of saving Lapis to hide them... wait, he could use that as an argument. " _But_ ," he started dramatically, causing Emerald to freeze. "We don't have anything to block our signals from the Revolution, so we need to get Lapis back."

Hope began to glimmer in the rebels' eyes. But, they weren't really up for fighting another battle this soon.

"Oh, I've got something that'll fix the problem. I made this new device that'll cloak all of our signals in a mile's radius." Emerald casually countered. She put up a finger, "In fact, just wait one second..." She blurred out and became clear again, instantly popping a green trail from the podium to her workshop, without the use of her suit. She held out a device that was a translucent sphere sitting on a thick square stage that had a lever on it. She flicked the switch and a blue ray spiraled into the night sky by a mile in altitude, before exploding and sending down a giant, blue dome-bubble over their heads. It turned invisible after it secured its position. "Ta daa! Our signals are hidden. No need to go to the Revolution and cause any hassle."

Steven gulped, his plan was done for.

He knew now... Emerald wasn't going to let him get Lapis back. The speedster had him in the palm of her hand; she could control his actions with little intimidation and put the blame on him for anything bad that happens. She didn't need to publicly announce herself as the _leader_ , because she had a _much_ better position of power and control.

"Why didn't you present this before?" he asked inquisitively, hoping to calm his own nerves with small talk. It didn't run through his mind fast enough to realize that she would talk to him, and even though she was being friendly, he understood now that their conversations would be a petty little game to her. Talking to her would do nothing to change her mind, unless it would be something that'll giver her an edge. Her mind was probably in superspeed, thinking of all her actions and all the variables that would get in her way of doing... whatever she was doing.

"Lapis already took care of it," Emerald answered, shrugging. "She didn't need anymore help. Anyway, take this device, kiddo." The speedster tossed the energy blocker to the demigem. "I'm going to scout for some places to hide. I'll be back in a few minutes, and hopefully the Revolution doesn't come by. And if they do, you know what to do."

She gave him a smile, and from his perspective, it was the devil's grin. The speedster ran off with a green trail, leaving them in her dust. Leaving Steven the responsibility of the whole rebellion.

Steven sighed, and his eyes darted towards the rebels who had done nothing but observe. He glanced at the jasper nearest to him, the one that called him Prince, and she gave him a pity look. He looked at the device, before slowly sliding down the stack of boxes to the grounds of the Kindergarten. He looked around, and everyone made way for him. Nobody approached him, probably due to them not being as close to Steven as other Gems they knew of.

"What do we do now, _Prince of the Crystal Gems_?" the new leader of the rubies asked. "That's a mouthful. One, two, three, four, five, six... Six syllables! _One_ too many!"

"Well... I was hoping—" Steven's explanation of his plan was immediately interrupted by a few chatters among the rebels.

" _Dakingofdanorf_!" one Gem exclaimed.

"Prince Steven... Steven Quartz... The Prince of Quartzes..." another one mused.

Steven's face went red with the flattery of them trying to name him of royalty, but he still needed to get his plan straight. " _Guys_..."

A pair of amethysts and a jasper assented to that other one's idea and bellowed, "The Prince of Quartzes!"

"That really isn't that important..." the demigem said.

"HEY!" the jasper beside him snapped at them, causing most of the Gems to seal their mouths. "Steven's trying to say something!"

"The half-blood prince!" a Gem shouted her ideas. "The _demigem_ prince!"

"Shut up!" the jasper ordered to that one Gem, "Stop making titles!"

Steven's face was hot, albeit the cool temperature of the Kindergarten. "I uh... I was trying to say, that I plan to break Lapis out of prison, and all the other Gems that are held captive. We'll save our brethren and gain more forces while at it. But, I can't do it alone... I'll need help breaking into the facility and holding all those gemstones to our new base. We don't have Kyanite to make portals like last time, and we certainly don't have any of the powerful Gems to help us. But we have each other." he told them. "I just need a squad, not a lot of people or else Emerald would notice."

"But Emerald _will_ notice that you're gone." the Blue Pearl stated.

"Just tell her I left. That I couldn't handle it." Steven subconsciously said, as if he had done so before. He wasn't sure what that was, so he supposed that his mother must've said it before. "Then, I would need someone to wait here and inform us of where the new base is. Now, picking the squad of guys who'll come with me."

"I volunteer," the jasper beside him said. "I could pick apart some Gems and knock some heads down as you order."

"You're too big." Steven bluntly stated after a glance. "Sorry, but... you'd be caught immediately. I don't want to start that big of a conflict."

Blue Pearl stepped in. "May I?"

Steven observed her. "I'm not sure if you're, well... skilled enough."

Blue Pearl would curtsy to shoe her respect, but that would be too fancy and make her look like she was still tied to Homeworld, so she bowed her head instead. "I understand."

The ruby squad immediately flooded him. The ruby leader raised her hand. "Ooh! Ooh! We're perfect! We're small, strong and skilled! You can take me, my name's Red, and uh, I'll pick another two for ya..." she glanced at her comrades, and picked the rubies she thought were suitable for the mission. "...Rachel and Ray!"

Two rubies hurried to Red's side.

Rachel was a ruby wearing a dark hoodie, pants and ugg boots. She had a cheery grin upon entry and definitely influenced Steven to smile. She looked fuzzy and warm.

Ray was wearing a black tank top, pink shorts and slip-ons, which gave her a carefree look. Her Gem placement was on her arm, which she wasn't ashamed to show.

Finally, Red the leader, was wearing a vermillion tee and a dark vest over it, baggy shorts, completed with a hot-red hat. She had her Gem on her knee.

Steven could only utter a cute, " _Awww~_... I mean..." he looked around, turning his smile to an awkward look around the other Gems. He didn't really want the others thinking that he was still a child. "Yeah," he coughed. "I like the enthusiasm. I can bring you guys along. Anyone else?"

"I'll come with," the snarky jade said, stepping over to Steven. "I have camouflage," she informed, as she gradually turned invisible in Steven's perspective, and turning back to being visible. She had a more sleeker suit than Revolution Jade, but with her arms covered, and her colors being more jade-ish. "You could wait as I infiltrate their base and then come when I've released the prisoners. It would be efficient."

"Great idea," Steven remarked. "We'll use that plan."

"You know this is a big sacrifice, right?" an ocean jasper informed. "We don't know if you'll win. We don't know anything about the insides of the Revolution, or have ever stepped foot into the prison cells... What makes you so confident that you could pull this off?"

"Well, he obviously knows of the giant green ship the Revolution is cleaning up. It's the perfect time." another quartz said.

"What?" the demigem asked, raising a brow at her direction. "Could you repeat that?"

"The Revolution is cleaning up some debris from a battle. It's all over the Earth news." the quartz stated. "This would be an opportune moment to take control of the Revolution, don't you think?"

Steven nodded as he became aware of the situation. "So... they're down. We're down. Lapis could've been in that battle and got trapped by them..." He felt his nerves lower as his mission wouldn't be _that_ difficult. The Revolution wasn't at their prime. He turned to the four Gems that would be coming with him. "Alright, Team Gem Squad... let's go."

* * *

Beach City...

The attack from Homeworld didn't make much of a mess than Pearl had expected.

The city was okay, apart from the few earthquakes and tidal waves that happened on the beach part of the city. Other than that, it was fine. Not so much collateral damage this time, and people complain about their broken vases that their grandmas bestowed upon them and thus breaking an ancient family tradition. Considering how that was a mockery to Pearl, having lived long enough to tell how the family heirloom lasted about as long as the rest of her Gem type. She decided ultimately to pay no attention to them and continued on work, business as unusual.

She had already ordered for the Homeworld Gems to be locked in the cells of the Revolution's Gem prison, since she didn't trust bubbling them after the incident with Amber that caused _four hundred and eighty-seven_ Rogue Gems to run rampant. There were probably still more corrupted Gems out there, but those numbers probably dwindled when Amber appeared and uncorrupted them. So, a little over five hundred technically.

Pearl stared off into the beach's shore, watching Gems bring back as much Homeworld debris so that they can identify the metal, try to replicate it, and use it to advance their forces. She watched as Gems retrieve pieces of metal from the ocean, toss it to a pile that was on land, and watched as _another_ group of Gems take that pile of metal and warp to the Revolution base to stash it. Their numbers back at the Revolution was a little low, since most of the Gems were out here, excavating Homeworld's green hand ship. So she felt insecure about the lack of security.

Her gauntlet beeped to alarm her, and she raised it so that she could see what was going on. Immediately, her eyes lit up in surprise as a hundred Gems' signals came out of nowhere. The rebels got out from somehow hiding from their scanners, they could now track them!

Jade, who was beside her and shining her new katana (since the other one broke), watched the hologram intently and narrowed her eyes.

"Are you gonna call this whole thing off because of that?" the ninja asked, her depressed tone was easily decipherable as she _really_ tried her best to conceal it. She was completely useless against Jasper, and had accomplished nothing during it, just like all the other times. "If you call in the Gems to stage an attack, there's no telling what the humans would do. The Revolution, you could trust, but not too much... they're still human." Jade caught herself there. "In a metaphorical sense. Not that I put them in the same category as the others, but what I was trying to say was, they can make mistakes."

Pearl stayed fixated on the hologram of the globe. "This is our chance... They'll notice they're showing their hideout and _will_ find a way to fix that. Fast. And with Emerald there, I'm not sure I like the chances." she told her. "By the time they notice, they're not stupid enough to stay in the same place. Not while Emerald's in charge. And they _are_ going to, since they've been hiding in the _Kindergarten_ the whole time, it seems. I'm pretty sure they're not gonna stay in the Kindergarten much longer than they should."

"You've already taken Lapis in." Jade informed, standing up from the rock she was just sitting on. "I say, we let them off. There are other things to worry about now. Like, Homeworld. What the world might think of this. How are we going to augment our forces from Homeworld? When do you think they'll notice we've taken their ship and how will they react accordingly?"

"I don't know... But, Amethyst was interested to talk to them... well, the peridot in particular. I know why... She even argued for her not to be shattered. And also not to poof them." Pearl remembered, as she let her fingers drum against the hilt of the Gem Destabilizer weapon, which was Jasper's, now strapped to her hip like she owned it. "She couldn't see someone who looked like her beloved, _poof_ before her. And she even convinced the peridot to walk into the cell without any violence."

Jade looked surprised. "Huh... I would've shattered the Homeworld Gems."

"I guess that's what makes Amethyst better than me," Pearl admitted. Jade raised a brow at her.

"You're looking at it wrong," Jade told her. "If that wasn't a peridot, she wouldn't have cared if you poofed her and shattered their Gems. They were lucky to send a peridot that looked like... _her_ peridot. It's like if you were out there, and Homeworld sent a rose quartz to kill you. You wouldn't shatter her, would you?"

Pearl contemplated that question...

The answer seemed so easy: she _wouldn't_ shatter a rose quartz. Just like Amethyst wouldn't shatter that peridot. But that wasn't Rose Quartz, the legendary warrior who would give her life up for her son, it was just another Homeworld troop sent to kill her. It wouldn't be a measly technician, it would be a full-blooded fighter. If that quartz was sent to kill her, she wouldn't stop. And Pearl wouldn't hold back. She would poof that quartz, and shatter her to get rid of that nightmare; fighting a killer who looked like someone you loved, who was already dead.

Pearl _would_ shatter a rose quartz.

"Rose Quartz is _dead_." she finally stated, her voice unwavering. "She rests with Steven. _He_ is her legacy." She thought back to the question, making her answer. "There are no rose quartzes like her..." She clenched her fist, "I would _shatter_ them. To send a message to Homeworld." Her eyes glowered at Jade, showing off a dangerous glint, like she was going to murder her right there. " _Do not insult me_."

Jade was stunned, to say the least. But she continued on with her questions. "Then... What if _Steven_ were to attack you, for his rebellion?" Jade inquired, "For Lapis Lazuli? Kyanite? The other Gems that were imprisoned... He has plenty of reason to attack you."

"If he attacks me..." Pearl mumbled, mellowing out and feeling disappointed in herself with the mere thought of hurting Steven. "I don't think I'll have it in me to retaliate."

* * *

The Revolution...

The cells were cold and unforgiving.

Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG sat up against the wall of the prison facility, hugging her legs close to her chest, since she was without her limb enhancers. She couldn't do anything. She was useless and helpless. If a Gem from Homeworld came in here right now, she would die from embarrassment. The amethyst was being good to her for reasons linking to how Peridot nine-two-eight had a thing for this Quartz.

Everyone insulted her by calling her names relating to Homeworld. It didn't scare her, as she was a proud Homeworld Gem, and wouldn't deny it. Them referring to her as a Homeworld Gem was like being feared and called a great warrior. Still, she was bothered by their tones; so poisonous and aggravated.

Except for the amethyst, she was creative enough to come up with something else. But for the most part, she refers to her as Peridot, and it was almost begrudgingly.

And, speak of the devil, the purple Quartz was walking down the hallway, ignoring all other cells beside Peridot's. She stopped at the green Gem's cell, and crossed her arms in front of it.

"Todirep," Amethyst called her.

Narrowing her eyes, Peridot demanded to know what she just called her. Was it an insult? Was it a new name? What's with this Gem and her fascination for _names_? The green technician gathered her courage to give off a menacing vibe. " _What_?"

Amethyst heartily snorted at her " _threatening_ " tone. "It's Peridot... _backwards,"_ she explained.

Peridot raised a brow, "Why would you need to do that?"

"Because I need something to call you other than Peridot."

"Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG." the Homeworld technician said as she stood up.

"Huh?"

"That's my name."

"I'm not gonna call you _that_." Amethyst sniggered, before her face fell shortly afterwards. Peridot didn't know why, but it made her feel bad, seeing how she could give the purple Quartz great joy and sadness. Amethyst solemnly continued, "You remind me so much of her... but I could tell you're not the same."

Peridot didn't like being compared to Nine-two-eight. But it intrigued her how Amethyst could tell the difference between her and Nine-two-eight. She must've studied Nine-two-eight so thoroughly that she could distinguish her from other standard peridots, just like her. And she wondered in what particulars that amethyst could tell apart.

"What's different between me and her?" Peridot asked curiously.

"Well, her eyes are full of... good nature. They're peaceful, quirky, has the type of feeling that tells me... _Man, she's into you_. Back then, there was this nervousness in her eyes every time she confronts me, she didn't want to let me down after I saved her. But that melted away as she learned more, and her eyes showed me all the hardships she went through..." Amethyst reminisced with a smile. But looking back at this Peridot, she frowned. "Your eyes are stormy. Cold. Your eyes remind me of her curiosity... Her insecurity..." Her brows furrowed as she examined more into Peridot's eyes, leaning against the glass to take a better look. "...you... _You have her eyes_..." she realized, "...if she were in a bad mood, you look just like her..."

Peridot's eyes lowered. "You've got quite the imagination," she snarked. "And it all leads up to both of us being the same."

Amethyst closed her eyes and shook her head. "You're not her," she told herself, her voice barely a whisper. She opened them again, and the captive Peridot was sulking at her. "You never fail to amuse me."

"Explain again what sets me apart from Nine-two-eight." Peridot said.

Amethyst's eyes observed the Homeworld Gem from head to toe, and wasn't able to conclude it through words. "It's just a feeling."

"After that long poem about what's different, you finally settle for a subjective view." Peridot remarked, "Seems rather lackluster. I expected more."

" _Yeah_ , me too." Amethyst replied, subtly giving her comment on the Homeworld Gem. "I've been waiting for Peridot to come back, but now that you..." Her fist clenched in realization of what will happen to her Peridot on Homeworld. The confined Gem noticed it straight away but still jumped when Amethyst slammed the shock-absorbent glass with it. The purple Gem stared at her own fist, wide-eyed, as she brought it back, shaking. "I'm... sorry. It's just... what _happened_ to Peridot?"

Knowing that Amethyst meant Nine-two-eight, and that she probably had control of opening up the glass wall that separated them, she didn't want to poof so she didn't jump around the topic. "Nine-two-eight is an invaluable peridot to Homeworld, with her supposed vast knowledge that they've discovered when they... put her into... a punishment site." Amethyst kept her eye on her, and Peridot wasn't sure if she could think logically at that moment, and hoped she wouldn't be poofed by the end of this. "They couldn't shatter her, so they put her there. They weren't going to let all her potential go to waste, and Nine-two-eight _knows_ it and knows that if she gave them everything, she wouldn't have any leverage and they would shatter her for her crimes. She's going to be fine... she's smart like that, _you_ would know." She added the last part to convince Amethyst not to crack her Gem, since she really had no purpose here.

The purple Gem remembered what they had told each other a year ago. That they'd kill each other if they died. It was cheesy, something Amethyst liked, but she let it sink in for a moment.

Amethyst looked over to the number plating of the cell, and reached over to her Gem to take a tablet out of that compartment. She was Pearl's most trusted friend, and leader of the Crystal Gems, which practically doesn't exist at this point. She was given a tablet that connected to most places in the Revolution, since Pearl thought she was responsible enough to have it. Responsible enough to have control over all the cells in the Revolution. Except for the Moon base. That was off-limits.

"Wh... What are you doing?" Peridot asked fearfully, trying to look at what Amethyst had.

The Quartz focused on the tablet, letting her finger hover over Peridot's cell number. She glanced at Peridot, who looked like she was about to cry.

"Can you make a spaceship?" Amethyst asked slowly, making sure she could do it before letting her out so she could create it.

"Y-Y... _Yes_!" Peridot's throat dried that she at first wasn't able to shout, but forced her way through it. She jumped at the opportunity of not getting shattered. "I'll make you anything! I'll build you a spaceship! I'll-I'll do anything! Just don't... _please_... You're better than me, okay! Anything I've said about you or Nine-two-eight, I apologize for it!" Peridot's arms covered protectively around her forehead, where her gemstone was. "Please, don't shatter me!"

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down." Amethyst said, averting her focus from the tablet. "I'm not going to do that. I'm angry, yes. But I'll never—"

ERRRR! That was the sound of jail cells being permitted to open itself and release the prisoners.

Amethyst's eyes darted across the room, where the cell doors opened by themselves. The few Gems that were released curiously walk out of their cell, looking around for any reason why they were released. They were on the second floor, just like where she and Peridot were, but on the other side, with a gap between each floor. There were four floors of jail cells, and the place was designed like a human prison facility, except modified to hold Gems.

"I didn't do that..." Amethyst muttered, watching the freed Gems wander around, then set their eyes on Amethyst, who to them was a Revolution Gem.

"What? What's wrong?" Peridot asked concernedly.

Amethyst didn't answer. She pulled out her whip and grappled towards the other side of the prison facility, landing on the second floor railings to confront the rebels that were free. She snapped her whip at them.

"Get back in your cells!" she shouted. "Don't make me get the others! They're meaner than me!"

ERRRR! More cells were opened, the glass being lifted up to release the prisoners.

Amethyst looked at the control center which was on the end of the wall, in between the two sides of the jail cells. She couldn't tell what was happening inside it, but she knew it wasn't good. The control center's glass panes were tinted black on the outside so people couldn't see what was going on behind-the-scenes. Amethyst wished that the glass panes were transparent both ways instead.

"Oh, the freedom fighters have saved us!" Milky Quartz, a leader of another rebel Gem faction, exclaimed. She rushed out of her cell and looked up to find her saviors, but Amethyst was the Gem that she noticed. The purple Gem cracked her whip at the Gems on that floor, trying scare them back into their place. The big Gem then knew what she was going to do.

Milky Quartz brought her axe out and flung it at Amethyst, who leaped off the railings and whipped at the whitish-pink rebel, who was the first one to partake a direct attack. The purple Gem drop-kicked Milky Quartz, surfing on her body across the floor. She turned around to look for any rebels that want to join in, and found that most of them were just watching, looking down on her as they leaned against the railings. As if she was a part of their prison brawl, as if they were spectators watching a gladiator fight.

Amethyst snapped back into reality just in time to catch a jasper charging at her. Her mind went blank, as she remembered the Homeworld Jasper rushing at her with a Comet Charge. She remembered how powerful she was, and prepared to take the hit. The jasper shoulder-tackled her, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

Amethyst rolled across the ground, before stopping herself, and whipping out _Parry_. A few more Gems jumped down from the upper floors and stood off against Amethyst.

One Gem was confident enough to charge at Amethyst, pulling out a dagger from their Gem and swinging it at her. The purple Gem spun her baton, which transformed into a glowing energy sword midway, and knocked the Gem's dagger out of her hand. Amethyst still got hit in the face by the Gem's shoulder, the momentum knocking them both to the ground. She was embarrassed to have been knocked over by something so trivial, and swung at the Gem's physical form and poofed her in a single swipe.

"Oh..." she huffed, wiping her mouth and finding a small trail of her blood smeared across it. She glared at the other Gems. "You won't last a single second." she taunted.

"Is that a bet?" one of them asked.

"Oh, yess." Her eyes lit up. "I'm _daring_ you guys."

* * *

The Amedot...

Howlite was visiting Black Pearl's container after putting Pyrite's gemstone in her room. But once she got there, the lights on the ship flickered with the facility. That was just one small power malfunction, so she didn't mind. She continued on and wanted to see Black Pearl's condition.

The ex-prince made her way to the cyborg's cylindrical prison, and then the lights went out.

 _Okay,_ she thought, _what's happening?_

In the pitch black environment, Howlite lit her aura up to shed some light in the room.

The sound of glass shattering screamed in Howlite's ears, and instantly her blood went cold. She immediately laid her eyes on the glass container, where only wires and broken glass was found. Howlite went on the defensive in that second, putting more energy into her aura, brightening the place. She looked around, and there was no sign of Black Pearl. There were trails of oil leading up to a wall, and then it crawled up on said wall, which gradually led Howlite's eyes to the ceiling. The silver Gem swore that her heart jumped out when she saw the dark cyborg crawling on the wall like a cockroach.

Black Pearl immediately jumped at Howlite once she was found, and swiped at her face. Blood spilled over Howlite's cheek, before she retaliated, jabbing the cyborg in the neck. The silver Gem hauled herself at the pearl, pushing her against the wall.

"When will you _stop_?" Howlite demanded. "Just die... you'll be better that way! You won't have to suffer anymore..."

"I'll stop when _you're_ dead at my feet." Black Pearl answered, as she started to pry Howlite's arms away from her. "And if you want me to die... why did you preserve me?"

The cyborg's technological advancements overpowered Howlite's strength, which the silver Gem noticed and threw the cyborg across the room, sending her into the shadows. Howlite raised her hand, letting an energy ball shimmer out of her palm, and directed it over to where Black Pearl was. The energy ball hovered across the room, and when Howlite couldn't see Black Pearl, she clenched her fist and let the energy burst in the middle of the room, making an effective flash bang.

Black Pearl's enhanced sensors went haywire, blinded by the unexpected light. On the other hand, Howlite found her opening and rushed at her. The silver Gem fired a flurry of punches and kicks, all hitting the cyborg without fail. Howlite then sent a strong kick down on Black Pearl's leg, followed up with an spin to gain momentum for her elbow into Black Pearl's face, then ended with a high spin kick.

The silver Gem was a tornado of attacks, having trained a lot to overpower someone her size and strength class. She was swift, precise, skillful, following the steps of Pearl, who still had better technique than her. Black Pearl took the brunt of Howlite's deadly hits, before finally rebooting herself to freshen herself up. After that, she recognized Howlite's attack patterns, and calculated counters.

Then, Howlite hit a wall. Her wrist was stuck in Black Pearl's arm, and Howlite noticed that she was in her most vulnerable stance. The cyborg right hooked her in the midriff, then uppercutted her in the jaw, stunning her. She used this time to kick Howlite's legs from under her and smash her palm into her chest, slamming her into the metal floors of the ship.

Howlite groaned, her aura flickering. She regained her composure and looked around. She made another flash bang, but there was no sign of the cyborg.

Black Pearl was gone.

* * *

Steven drop-kicked a soldier to the ground, before turning around in time to catch a Gem swinging a sword at him. His shield burst into life and clanged against the weapon, pushing the Revolution Gem back.

Everything was flashing red, sirens were blasting through the facility. They finally noticed that _they_ were not the average infiltrators, and needed help. Steven admitted that he did a poor job of infiltrating their base. They used a warp pad to get into distance with the base, sent the jade first, and ran to catch up with her and get into the base. Sneaking in was harder than he thought and they were immediately caught while outside the facility. The demigem and the Ruby Squad had to fight their way in, and with the Revolution's Gem numbers being as low as they could get, fighting would be the easier part.

The Ruby Squad kept on fighting with their Revolution Gems, until a pink shield was flung at their opponents, incapacitating them. They turned their focus over to Steven, who caught his shield with one hand. Rachel and Ray stared in awe, while Red rolled her eyes at them. The demigem started heading for the prison.

"We have to get to the prison cells. Get as many Gems as we can. Jade must be there by now." Steven ordered hurriedly, and the rubies started to dash for the jail with him. The demigem ran through the open halls, putting up a bubble around him and the three rubies, and were protected the whole way there.

They finally found the jail department, which was protected by thick titanium alloy walls. The door to enter it was sealed shut with many hydraulic locks. Steven's bubble crashed into the doors, and bounced off of it. The demigem made a shield and threw it as they flew away, hoping that his mother's powerful shield could open it, only for it to ricochet off as well. The rubies with him in the bubble yelped as they bounced around, bumping into each other in the closed space.

Steven popped the bubble around them and the four small Gems skidded across the ground.

"Ugh..." Steven groaned and held his head.

"We had a momentum going! Quickly!" Red, the leader Ruby, exclaimed. She hurriedly went to the metal door and placed her hands on it. "Rachel! Ray! Help me me the door!"

"On it, boss," Rachel said as she went to her side, blasting fire from her hands. Red's hands were glowing white, expressing heat from her touch rather than through fireballs.

Ray pulled a sword's handle out of her arm, and said hilt exploded with fire to become the blade. She sided with her comrades and stabbed her fire sword into the metal door.

FFFSSSSHHHHHH... All three rubies' efforts in melting the door were starting to work, as their rising temperatures made a red glow around them. Steven had to squint to keep looking at what they were doing, and even then, they were just a blur to him. Their heat was disorienting the light into his eyes. He could already feel himself sweating.

* * *

Amethyst fought her way out of the hundred Gems that she was locked in with. The hundred Gems trapped her by huddling close to her, holding her in place. The purple Gem's waist was getting crushed with all the Gems pushing against her.

Amethyst grunted, trying to swipe at a Gem, only to have the Gem be defended by two Gems that struck Amethyst as they did. The purple Gem tried to wiggle her way out, pushing against the forces of fifty Gems. She looked up at the flashing red lights of the alarms and heard the low ringing of the sirens outside. Her eyes set on the control center that only had glass to protect it, then to the double doors that were glowing orange from being melted.

Then, she thought...

 _I'm alone._

 _Surrounded._

Gems fought to keep her down but she kept getting back up. They threw their weapons at her, and she sliced them with her sword before it could touch her. She tried to hit them, but they all parried her sword. Grunts and yells were heard in the jail. The amount of Gems against her, everywhere, trying to kill her, and _only_ her, was making her nauseous. Her feet were getting stepped on. She was getting crushed by sixty Gems now.

And their help was on the way, and not hers. Because the Revolution didn't need to melt the doors. She knew that there were rubies behind it, and they were mostly rebels.

If she struggled less, they would shatter her. She knew that. She could feel it from their ongoing attacks at her. If she tried to shapeshift, she would be leaving herself vulnerable for a moment. And that would kill her at this point.

Milky Quartz held her battle axe up. "We Gems don't have to listen to the humans! We're rebels! You can't contain us in your cells forever!" She threw her battle axe at Amethyst, who blasted it with her energy sword and made it shift at an angle that poofed some of the rebels instead when it landed. "Drat."

Amethyst spat, "Do your worst! I can imagine hundreds of things worse than being shattered!"

"You're just asking for death," Milky Quartz said. "You don't fear it, do you? No, you'd like it if we killed you. At least, you'll be at peace then. So, we're not going to kill you yet."

"Pfft... Haha... HAHAHAA!" bellowed a Homeworld Gem in one of the cells. A few Gems peered inside and found Jasper, with mechanical cuffs around her wrists and entire torso, chained to the wall with liquid Gem destabilizers waiting to be injected into her if she struggled against it. So, she didn't move. "You Crystal Gems are worthless!" she remarked. "You should just kill her already! There's no point in torture! I've seen 'er, she doesn't want to die!"

"RraaAARGGHH!" Amethyst yelled suddenly. She looked down and found a sword stabbed through her belly. Not to worry, she'd gone through worse before, like fighting those Opals during Ambergeddon. She had endured being stabbed multiple times that day. But it still hurt like hell.

"Stab her!" a jasper exclaimed. "Make that overcooked runt pay!"

" _Wait_! What the hell are we doing?" a Gem demanded, but her voice was lost in the crowd. "She hasn't done anything wrong to us! We started this!"

"She's done plenty wrong, you fool!" someone retorted.

"No! This is wrong!"

"Shatter her Gem!"

"Keep pushing! We could crush her this way! She'll poof and be vulnerable!"

"Don't stop!"

"No!"

"AAGHHH!" Amethyst screamed, feeling her arm explode in pain. She looked at it and found that someone stabbed her with a dagger. She tried to fight, and successfully poofed three Gems in one swoop, but with her attack came an opening. A Gem ran up to her, and stabbed her in the stomach with a knife, pulling it out viciously. The weapon was stained with her blood, but the Gem continued stabbing her again, countless times. Amethyst could only hang her mouth open, her limbs frozen with fear, and then forced herself to bite that Gem's neck off, poofing her. The purple Gem dropped, her knees buckling into her own blood, which was pooling on the ground. She tried to slash at another Gem to her side, but more and more swarmed her in this vunerable position, kicking and stabbing.

Peridot stood on the second floor, watching in horror as Amethyst got massacred by a crowd of Gems, but still managing to swipe and poof more as they came. Well, Amethyst couldn't miss them now that they were everywhere. The purple Gem's cries were overshadowed by everyone else's cries.

A Gem pulled off her fellow rebels, trying to stop them from brutally attacking Amethyst. "What the hell is wrong with you guys?!" she shouted, and a few of them heard. "We're all ganging up on _one_ Gem!"

Everyone huddling around Amethyst went poof as she swung her sword around wildly, fighting against the agony. She could feel herself _dying_. She could feel a...

...Crra _ckk_.

FFFFSSSHHHH... Finally, the double doors burst open, with the Ruby Squad and Steven coming in to rescue the rebels. The demigem's eyes immediately noticed a whole crowd of Gems surrounding something, and they all stopped what they were doing and turned to face him. The Ruby Squad cheered and high fived each other for their work, before noticing the disturbing feeling of the room. It was intense enough to make them frown and move away from the crowd. Steven raised a brow at the crowd of Gems.

"What's going on?" he asked boldly.

He wished he hadn't. Nothing could prepare himself for this day.

A few Gems looked at one another, not knowing what to do. One brave Gem dragged the glitching Amethyst by the arm, and showed her beaten body to him.

Steven's eyes shrunk at the sight of the bloodied and battered Amethyst, stunned.

it took him a few moments to take in all the wounds and silver blood splattered across the purple Gem's body. His mouth was parted, trying to say something, but he stood there. Thinking, this wasn't real. How could Amethyst get beaten up so badly?

"A... _Amethyst_?" he asked, before locking eyes with everyone. They mostly looked ashamed, but some were proud of what they did. The boy wondered why some of them were proud, then realized disgustedly what they did. He was haunted by the sheer violence inflicted on her, but with it being done by them? He didn't know what to think. _Where's Lapis? She wouldn't condone this act._ His eyes scanned the vicinity, looking for her familiar face, but all he could find that was familiar was Peridot on the second floor, just watching the whole thing. Steven felt his stomach churn. That didn't add up.

This wasn't right.

Everything wasn't right about this place.

 _This has to be a nightmare._

Steven stepped closer to Amethyst, crouched beside her and saw that her Gem was cracked. He racked up whatever spit he had left and licked his hand, then shining her Gem with it, fully mending the crack.

" _Amethyst_..." His voice cracked. He held a sob and willed himself to continue. "You can rest easy... I'm right here... They won't hurt you anymore..."

He heard a soft sigh, and he could've sworn she murmured, "Rose..." then she poofed.

The demigem stood up, his eyes darkening at the sight of the seventy Gems in the room.

"Who did this?" he demanded.

From the control center above his head, the rebel jade was looking down at the panels and the event that was happening, her hand hovering over the mic button to tell him. But she took it away and decided to do something else. She faded into the corridors of the Revolution, stepping over the unconscious bodies of some soldiers, and went to find the Jade of the Revolution, hoping to do something.

Steven turned to the rest of the Gems, who were watching. He didn't dare ask what were they doing, he wanted to know _who_. He glared at them, disappointed, ashamed to have gone this far to save them, and... _disgusted_. He'd seen this stuff happen before, but he never thought it would be caused by the Gems he was saving. He shivered, before recomposing himself to show an intimidating demeanor. He'd learned from watching Lapis and Emerald, how to instill fear into the enemy's eyes. He couldn't believe that the first time he's using it was on his side of the battle.

"Who did this?" he demanded again. His tone was serious, cold and... _sad_. They all knew him as the kid, and didn't expect him to be so intimidating. Not with the bright colors he wore, or with his height compared to the Gems in the room... they actually thought he was taller now. Somehow, they could feel his anger rising, culminating into the air, and poisoning it. The Ruby Squad was frightened by the demigem, even though they knew they weren't part of the problem, they still stepped back.

"We all did," one Gem finally answered.

"I came here to free you..." he said, but didn't have the courage to finish that sentence. He was about to say, _but you've convinced me that you belong here._

"Uh, Prince... _Steven_ ," Red started,

The demigem gave her a perplexed look and said, "You're really going to call me that?"

"We're running out of time. And I _believe_ we'll be slowed down by the amount of Gems coming with us."

Steven thought about it. He then remembered what Emerald did to Hematite in their first encounter. They both bailed by Emerald poofing Hematite for a smaller mass and sped away. Steven decided that could be used in this situation... secretly because he felt there was something needed to be done after what they did to Amethyst. A punishment.

"Poof them," he ordered. The seventy Gems in the room stepped back. The other thirty were already poofed by Amethyst. "It's only to decrease the work." he told them, trying to convince them that it wasn't much about the harm they've caused. "We'll carry you guys back to our base..." Steven's eyes caught a peridot who was trying to sneak away. He glanced at the Ruby Squad. "Make sure all of them are in their Gems."

"What'll you be—" Red watched Steven jump over to the second floor, seeming focused on inspecting something. "—doing... Well," she turned to the seventy Gems. "Better start listening. He's the new Prince of our Rebellion. If you object his orders, prepare to get taken anyway by _my_ orders."

Steven found Peridot sitting against the wall of her cell.

"Hey, Peridot." he greeted, almost glaring at her.

"Are you someone Nine-two-eight knew?" she asked snidely.

Steven remembered something about the number nine-two-eight. He knew something from the last time he met her, and she told him about the number. However, by the strange way she said the question, it seemed she referred to the numbers Nine-two-eight as a person.

"Who's nine-two-eight?" he asked inquisitively.

"The Peridot that was sent here two Earth orbits ago." the Homeworld Gem said. "I assume you've met her. Then you've been greeting the wrong peridot."

"Oh."

Steven took the time to understand that this Peridot wasn't Peridot, and instead another Peridot. Which explained why she was only standing around, doing nothing when Amethyst was beaten.

"So, I don't know you... Do you mind getting poofed?" the demigem asked.

"I don't know what makes you think it's normal for us to get poofed, and even have the audacity to command those killers to poof themselves..." Peridot glanced at the floor below, and found that they actually did poof themselves, and the rubies were picking the gemstones up. She looked at Steven weirdly. "Who... are you? And why do you have power over them? You're just a human. Why did they follow _your_ orders?"

"Because I'm Rose Quartz's son."

Peridot's eyes widened. He just confirmed that Rose Quartz was still alive, despite what the others have said. They only obey him because he had a relation to Rose that makes him important.

"We should go... before the Revolution comes and brings in the big guns." Steven informed, and took her hand to lead her out. Peridot yanked her hand away from him.

"Why do I need to go away from this place?" she asked. "You're breaking us out. Why? Isn't Rose Quartz your superior... _everyone's_ superior? What is going on?"

Steven raised a brow, wondering why she didn't know anything. So, he put it in simple words. "There's a war going on."

"Here on Earth?" Peridot inquired, "Why didn't the... _A-Amethyst_ tell me that?"

"Uh, Steven! We're not doing well with time!" a ruby exclaimed.

Steven sighed, "Just come with us."

Peridot looked down at Steven's outstretched hand. She scowled. What choice did she have? This boy was breaking her out of prison. "Fine..."

"Alright," he sighed, "But sorry in advance..."

"Sorry for what?"

"Just... wait for an hour while you're in there."

Poof!

* * *

Steven jumped down from the second floor, with Peridot's Gem in hand. He understood the other Gems' discomfort with bubbling, and decided not to go with it. Also, he didn't know how to bubble Gems. He hoped they wouldn't reform while he and the rubies were going to bail them out. He met up with the rubies, who stored the one hundred Gems in their gemstones for convenience of not needing to hold them.

"Now to find Lapis..." he sighed. "We're not gonna have enough time..."

"Greetings, Steven!" a familiar robotic voice exclaimed. "I knew my scanners sensed your energy here."

"Black Pearl?" Steven inquired, raising a brow, before realizing that she was trapped here too. And she didn't need any help from them. But with the coincidence of her escaping at the time he came here, he had a thought that switching off the main power of the Revolution facility did something to help her escape. "Wait, you've got energy scanners. Can you locate where Lapis is?"

"Her energy signals point to..." Black Pearl paused, calculating. "...not on Earth."

"Steven, if I may," Red said, "we've got a hundred Gems added to our side. And Emerald's made an energy tacker blocker thing..."

"But it's _Lapis_... she's too powerful to just... leave here!" Steven exclaimed. "It's just... Where could Lapis be if she isn't on Earth? There's only a few places left to check..."

"Amusing retort: Yeah, space. Changing topic: There _is_ another powerful Gem signal." Black Pearl informed, her head nodding toward one of the cells. The five rebels made their way to the cell, finding Homeworld's Jasper still stuck in a metal vice.

"What the hell do you want?" the orange Gem demanded. "I heard you talking about this Lapis Lazuli. I can respect that you're trying to get her back. She's strong." she harrumphed, not entirely proud of saying that. "And if you're thinking of breaking me out... feel free. It's not like these metal devices locked onto me tell you anything dangerous."

Steven decided that there wasn't enough time to do anything, and since he'd been on a roll with poofing Gems, he didn't think. "Just wait an hour before regenerating," was the only warning he gave her.

Jasper's eyes widened when Steven's shield flared over his arm.

 _Rose—_

Poof!

* * *

Later...

Steven, Black Pearl and the rubies were able to reach the warp pad and teleport out of there in time. A Gem was waiting for them by the Kindergarten and led them to another place by using the warp pad again. They ended up near an upside-down Pyramid. The new camp was made inside it, where there was a lot of space and rooms (secret ones that Emerald knew of and took advantage), and it was the perfect size for the Gem Energy Signal Blocker. Steven stared at his surroundings, taking in the view, since he thought he wouldn't be leaving the inside of the pyramid for another week.

The demigem followed the Gems into the pyramid and marveled at the sight of all the ancient murals on the walls. He could see the story of Homeworld on Earth, and saw a big picture of his mother facing against a Gem her size. Maybe Yellow Diamond, he guessed, since White Diamond was on neutral terms with his mother, Blue Diamond was banished, and Pink Diamond was... _shattered_.

He went over to the Blue Pearl, who was the one specifically he spoke to about Emerald noticing his absence.

"She didn't seem to care. She didn't ask about you." Blue Pearl told him.

He nodded, frowning. "I guess she doesn't see me as a threat to her. And, I guess, I wouldn't see myself as a threat either."

He went over to the rubies, watching them plant the one hundred and eight Gems on the floor. He added it and there was a total of two hundred and fifteen Gems on his side... counting the prisoners that tried to fled, which meant there were only _about_ two hundred Gems with him on this Rebellion.

Now, all that was needed, was to wait for them to be reborn.

The demigem decided to wait outside, to get himself some alone time, to think over stuff. And of course, Black Pearl followed him out, which he learned to ignore after spending a month with her.

The air shimmered behind Steven, casting new air into his back.

The demigem spun on his heels, flashing his shield back to life, to defend himself from any attack. His eyes landed on the familiar Gem, stunned to see who it was.

"Steven! The teleport worked!" Kyanite greeted with a joyful grin and a hug. Steven couldn't believe she was here. What was she doing? He thought she was with Onyx, and wouldn't be able to join because of that dark, powerful Gem. And it seemed awfully unlucky to him that Kyanite appeared at this moment in time, when he needed someone of her abilities just half an hour ago.

"How are you here?" Steven asked, ecstatic to find another friend. "How did you know where I am?"

"Onyx," she answered, chuckling. "And, I think she's found a way to fix _all of this_..."

* * *

 **A/N: Woop-a-dee. Whoop-a-doo. This took longer than it should've. And the end was a rush job, because it's already long enough. I can't make it a two-parter because it's just _not_ meant to be a two-parter. And the notes tell me that there are other plans at stake.  
**

 **Anyway, what have I been doing recently that's been putting off this chapter? Well, it's just a case of writers' block** **, nothing can get rid of it, except for feedback. (Yeah, _subtle_.) I've started to read some other stuff, and my gosh, can I say... Wow, the amount of things I liked that I've now realized were Mary Sue things. And how hard it is to write something that's _not_ Mary Sue. And how easy it is to connect Mary Sue things from characters you thought wasn't Mary Sue.**

 **I mean, I've visited a _Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test_ , and an original character that I've been trying to make for an original story has got a very bad case of the Mary Sues. She was just an adventurer trying to make a career from writing about her travels. And may have found a fire sword, ironically, because her first name is _Winter_. Okay, I think I see why she's a Mary Sue even though she's not the main hero.  
**

 **Anyways, _again_ , I've been reading other fanfictions... namely... uh... _Percy Jackson_ stuff... and I've seen this trend where the authors ask for reviews and they get what they ask for, and I feel like, " _yeah_ , that's how you do it! You go demand more reviews for your hard work, even though you've already gotten like fifty for each chapter! Because I feel your pain and secretly want more reviews too!", but when I do it, I feel like a sellout. And, I'm kind of ashamed to say it, but... I've made my mind now.**

 **I love reviews. It lights my insides up with explosive joy. It makes my day _that_ much better. I write these things out of love for you guys. So, please... do me a favor.**

 **REVIEW! It's the least you can do for letting me waste an hour of your time with every new chapter. Like... maybe say if you figured out where Lapis is trapped. Or who the traitor is. Or what your predictions are. Or how you feel about certain things...  
**

* * *

New Episode Stuff:

Echh, what am I doing? This is completely useless, and I've got nothing to say for any episode. Oh well, time to sum up everything or pick a joke from a lengthy paragraph I made like I always do.

 _Bubbled:_ WHAT ABOUT THE RUBIES? EYEBALL, DOC, NAVY, ARMY, LEGGY, nnNOO!

 _Kindergarten Kid:_ Road Runner memories.

 _Know Your Fusion:_ Sardonyx-filled episode! You know what? Perfect time to reveal a secret that user _Japkot_ found out! Chapter 31 to 38 is actually SARDONYX if you look at the first letters (like all other secrets I hide, very unoriginal). Ya know, cause Sardonyx had Onyx in her name? Never mind.

 _Buddy's Book:_ Rose had lions before Lion. Coincidence? I think not. I don't know what that was supposed to build up to.

* * *

Breaking News: Welp. Because episode 52 of the show is _Jailbreak_. I thought it was a nice homage. And the twist here? Instead of breaking the Crystal Gems out of jail, Steven himself has broken Jasper and Peridot out of jail. And of course, Lapis doesn't get saved, just like in the original.

Next Chapter's Title: "Rebirth"


	56. Chapter 53: Rebirth

Chapter 53: Rebirth

* * *

Steven observed Kyanite's new physical form. She looked... _new_. Her cyan colors were still there, but her suit went from being barbarically cut everywhere to look aggressive to being a modern, sleek attire that gave off a confident vibe. Her star-shaped cape was still there, but smoother and wasn't rough around the edges.

"What's this great plan of yours?" the demigem asked, raising a brow suspiciously. He did it mostly because he was sure most of the idea was from Onyx, who he recently heard was Kyanite's surrogate mother from Lapis. And he wasn't really fond of Onyx. Stevonnie was, but he wasn't. He was a bit angry that Onyx was stronger than Lapis and shattered her, who he was proud of being the strongest Gem on the planet, since she was his caretaker for all his life.

Strangely, he couldn't remember having any nightmares from Lapis' death. He had thought it was because Stevonnie went through the pain and trauma of the resolution of the battle, and Steven came out once Lapis came back. He felt sorry for Stevonnie now that he thought about it. He was a _jerk_. Stevonnie didn't even meet Lapis!

"The plan is... _well_... it's a theory." Kyanite answered, hoping to best interpret it for Steven. "Onyx had thought that since you were basically Rose Quartz, but a permanent form, she thought there were some traces in your gemstone that leads to the real Rose Quartz. And she thought if she ventured into your mind enough, she would find her deep within your subconscious."

Steven thought about that. He had heard his mother's voice from time to time, like the training with Lapis, the unification shield and the empathy link thing, so there _should_ be a trace of Rose's consciousness in his gemstone. Unless, he was hallucinating. "I think Onyx's theory is true."

"Rose Quartz is in there?" Kyanite asked, dumbfounded. She leaned forward to inspect his Gem. "I thought she was actually gone, because you're her new... Wait, how do you know it's true?"

"I hear her voice in my head," the demigem replied. Kyanite's eyes widened, before looking concerned. He explained, "But she's not always there. It's, like... a special, time to time thing. I'm not sure. She comes in when I get or need abilities that I don't understand. Like when I first got her shield and all her physical skills and strengths, then when I first created a unified shield, and finally, the third and last time was a few months ago when Onyx attacked and she guided me through this empathy thing."

"So, it's all of your first times..." Kyanite said, getting the idea. And some other idea.

"Yeah, I think so." Steven replied. He failed to remember the times he thought Rose Quartz was speaking through him.

"Does that included your first time doing the human mating ritual?" Kyanite joked, causing Steven to blush red from the thought. "I hope not. That would ruin an intimate moment between you and..." she whispered the last word.

The demigem raised a brow. "I'm sorry, what?"

Kyanite's cheeks flushed. "I said, ahem, you and whoever you prefer to mate with. I won't object."

Steven felt uncomfortable with all the blushing that's spread across his face. "Alright, I'm going to put down some rules as _Prince_." he joked, but also meant it seriously. "We are never _ever_ talking about this topic. _Ever_."

Kyanite nodded. "Agreed."

"Agreed," Black Pearl assented from a couple yards away.

"Okay, going back to your plan." Steven twirled his finger around, as if to rewind their conversation. "What does _my mom_ have to do with this?" he asked, not used to referring to Rose Quartz as his mom. He wasn't around many people who knew Rose Quartz, and nowadays talks about her were pretty rare for Steven. Only indirectly would he hear rumors from the rebels. It was even rarer for Steven to refer to Rose while talking to a friend.

"Well, it's kind of a risky plan, but... Onyx was going to lie to you." The cyan Gem admitted. "But, I don't think she would need to _lie_ about it. The plan is... well..."

Kyanite scratched the back of her head, not sure how to say it without overwhelming Steven.

"The plan is to revive Rose Quartz from your gemstone."

Steven's first thought was... _What? That's impossible._ Then again, everything he's ever done would be impossible in human standard.

"However, she told _me_ to tell _you_ that we would seek Rose Quartz's advice." she added. "But as I've said, that's baloney."

"What's the difference if we don't revive my mom? I'm basically her. Why would she need _mom_ instead of me?" Steven inquired, looking skeptical. But inwardly, the prospect of _reviving_ his mother was... something he never thought would be possible. He was _excited_.

"Onyx believes that Rose Quartz would be more experienced and her appearance on the battlefield will shake Pearl out of her own reality." Kyanite explained. "Also, she thinks Rose Quartz's advice is considered null until Rose herself uses it on her own." Steven raised a brow at that and Kyanite noticed he didn't understand. "I'm saying that she makes things up on the go; saying basically some vague advice. Onyx told me that. I've heard other things from Onyx too. During the war times, Onyx has seen what goes on inside Rose's head. She was just trying to find out what makes Rose Quartz tick, how she could become such a strong Quartz, to have the tenacity to continue... And well, she found something else..."

Steven mentally steeled himself, starting to frown at the worst possibilities of his mother's mindset.

"...Rose is conflicted with her own actions. She's scared and makes things up on the go. She _lies_ , because she doesn't know better. She thinks a leader should shoulder everything and that her companions didn't need to know... _things_. And all she wants, is to just leave the leader spot and be alone on some isolated planet, have someone to talk to, and never fight again." Kyanite said, "If anything, she doesn't think she's fit to be a leader. She thinks it's all coincidence, that she's pushed to that spot because she's most recognizable. She's the first major rebel. Everyone knows her name. Her advice means _nothing_ to Onyx. Her being here _means_ something. She's a tactical genius, a battlefield commander. That's where she aces. Her being on the battlefield, that's what Onyx wants to see. She doesn't want empty promises. Onyx wants to _win_ , and Rose Quartz _always_ wins."

The demigem blinked at that statement. His mother sounded so much like him. Except for the lying part, the battlefield commander part, and the winning part. Just recently, he'd been pushed to become the leader of the rebellion because he was someone who everyone looked up to more. He didn't grasp why, other than being the son of Rose Quartz. They seemed to see someone else instead of the boy he sees in the mirror. His mother probably felt the same way too, by Kyanite's words.

"Don't you want to win?" she asked.

"I don't want to _win_." Steven informed sharply, surprising Kyanite with the edge in his voice. He surprised himself too. He controlled his voice and explained, "I want to stop the war. I want peace."

Kyanite smiled sadly, "You are Rose Quartz's son." She held out her hand. "Now, are you willing to come with me and get Rose Quartz back?"

"How are you so sure it'll work?" Steven questioned, causing Kyanite to put her hand back down, expecting to answer his questions again. "I mean, the whole thing seems kinda illogical in hindsight. And really inconvenient."

"Onyx tried it before... with some help." The cyan Gem responded. "We did some tests... brought back the dead from memory. But they're memories, so, not really the dead one. But if Rose Quartz is in there, then Onyx could project her into reality, so it would seem like she's out here with us. Onyx has telepathy and telekinesis, she could control everyone's minds to _see_ what she wants us to see. So..."

"...Onyx could be a gateway for Rose Quartz to exist... not literally, but close." Steven finished. He noticed the detail Kyanite left out. "And what's the other help that Onyx needs? What's it for?"

She sighed. She wasn't impatient to jump back to Onyx, she was just frustrated with the lack of trust. It might be because he didn't get along with Onyx and the fact that she shattered Lapis. "The help is needed to make Rose Quartz's projection seamless, to give her an _actual_ body. _Magic_ is gonna be used around here."

Steven shivered a bit from the word _magic_. He remembered Rose Quartz using it and getting restricted from it, then Aquamarine with her wand _Quarain_ did something bad to Connie and also cut Lapis' hand off. Not sure if that was permanent yet, since Lapis also didn't seem to know that because she didn't try to regenerating it back. Humans also see the Gems as magic, but Steven thought they were more space aliens than magic, even though... all their powers seemed like it. Still, the word magic didn't sit with him. If a Gem said it, then it's Gem magic, which is Aquamarine-level magic, and he wasn't fond of that.

"Isn't mom cursed to not use physical magic?" he asked after awhile.

"Well, she _is_ cursed not to use physical magic..." she said, basically repeating what he asked. "But she isn't the one doing the magic."

Steven was about to ask another question, specifically, "Why does Onyx need to go through so much trouble when she can control everyone's minds to forget about all this?" But he didn't say it. He noticed he was asking too much and thought that Kyanite was getting impatient. She didn't show it though.

"Alright, you have me..." Steven held up his hands. "I guess, I'll go with you..." He turned to the cyborg who was keeping watch. "Black Pearl, stay here, I'm just gonna be out for a while."

* * *

Shortly afterwards, Steven and Kyanite had teleported into another dimension.

"Here we are..." Kyanite told him, and the demigem marvelled at the sight. "...welcome to _Quadroki Enquare_ , focused dimension of magic."

Steven was standing on gold. The place looked like an old Greek pantheon building, except it was furnished, made with rare shiny material like gold, and was sitting on a cloud. It was flying. He couldn't feel a difference in air pressure, or remember any discomfort like when he was on Dexterity Castle a year ago. There was something off-putting to Steven about that. He looked back and saw that the giant Greek pantheon building he was amazed at, was only one of many entrances to the illusion his mind was playing on him. Across, he could see a golden palace, ten times bigger than he could ever imagine something. It stretched across the sky, seeming to curve at some point due to light and refraction.

"Wow... _Quad-roh-kee En-quare_..." Steven was breathless, his mouth agape with incredulity. He already felt tiny compared to a normal palace. But this... It seemed like another _world_.

"I know," Kyanite replied, with arms crossed. She sighed, "It'll get disappointing soon."

"What do you mean? I don't think I can see the roof of this thing! I think it even reaches into _space_!" Steven exclaimed, before replaying what he said in his mind. His hung jaw closed into a small frown. "This is a trick?"

Kyanite nodded.

Steven contemplated at the tall palace. "Right, because... this thing would be noticed by everyone by now." he concluded, and Kyanite nodded at him again.

"I _would_ give you a tour... but..." She wistfully looked off to the side. "...the palace is a three thousand year-old sentient maze. That is still growing. It would take us a few millennia to explore the whole thing."

"Yeah, and we'll probably get lost since it's a maze. And it's huge!" he exclaimed.

Kyanite furiously blushed at the prospect of getting lost.

Steven noticed her discomfort when he mentioned it, and thought that she might have done that.

One part of the floor opened up like a door, and a teenager stepped out horizontally. The guy righted himself instantaneously with a flick of the wrist. In Steven's eyes, the magician had stood on a wall of air, then all of a sudden was standing on the gold floor with them. Kyanite nodded to the sorcerer.

" _Matt_ ," she greeted tensely.

"Kyanite," the magician greeted back casually.

Steven observed the man, eyes landing on a rugged brown suit with blue jeans. The sorcerer also had a white shirt and red tie under the brown jacket, which didn't make him seem like a magician at all. The sorcerer's eyes darted towards Steven, who froze.

"Hello, uh..." Matt Quantiny greeted awkwardly. Steven was about to say his name, but the magician shook his head and put his hand up to shun the demigem. "Nope. No. I've been working on this. Don't tell me your name. Let me guess..."

They waited for a little bit.

"...Star-boy! No, that's not right. Greg? No, that's your father..." Matt hummed in thought. "...Rose Quartz?" He immediately snapped his fingers. "... _Steven Universe_!"

Steven stared at him. "...close." He contemplated at the ground. "That would... _actually_ be my real name, if I took my father's last name."

Matt could sense the grief in the boy's tone, which confused him because his father was still alive. Nevertheless, Matt thought he shouldn't disclose any information for fear of messing something up. He had done so in the past, spreading whispers of the future in a simple code into a higher realm. It didn't get him anywhere, since nobody paid much attention to his codes, but he thought something bad would happen to him again when his goldfish died.

The magician flicked his wrist, and a card popped out from his sleeve.

"Wanna see a magic trick?" he asked, grinning.

"No, not really. I don't like magic." Steven replied. The demigem wondered if Aquamarine had been here, and the thought made his curiosity peak. "This is the dimension of magic, right? So, where are the _other_ magicians?"

Sorcerer Matt Quantiny pointed at the golden palace with two fingers. "Probably in there. Or somewhere in the Universe. Might take you several years to find another fellow though. Place is _huge_! Time warps really frickin' mad around here. So, several years may be a few seconds on Earth time. Or vice versa." He flicked a card at Kyanite, which flew around her and boomeranged into his other hand. "Kyanite here, she had an accident in this place."

"Have you heard of a magician called _Aquamarine_?" he asked, now more precisely than ever.

"Yep. I know her. Lives... quite a long way." Matt pointed at a building-sized window. "She stays _there_."

The demigem's hand twitched. But he finally thought that he probably shouldn't mess with a magician on her turf. Who knows what she could do to him.

"Anyway, we should get going," Matt said as he ripped the card to pieces, then blowing it away and letting a pigeon fly off.

"Nice trick." the demigem commented.

"Thanks, I've practiced that for two years," the sorcerer replied, shaking his hand as if it was burning. "I was a _novice_ back then. They named me _Slayer of Car-wreckers_ during that period."

Steven raised a brow at that joke, but immediately understood what he meant. He gave him a chuckle of approval, but that died down after realizing the older teenager in front of him killed a lot of pigeons.

"Yeah, that joke has that effect on you." Matt shook his head vertically, "I've seen it on other good-hearted fellows. And then there are those fellows who laugh a lot." His eyes slid over to the other Gem in the room. "And then there's Kyanite over there, being cool as a cucumber, and doesn't understand the joke."

"Come on, we should get to Onyx." Kyanite said, averting their attention elsewhere from that joke.

"Yes. The Rose Quartz projection project. And that's what I'm here for." Matt informed, making a smart salute as he fell backwards, and sunk into the golden floors, leaving without a trace. When the two Gems hadn't moved to go after him, Matt's voice echoed through the floor. "Follow me!"

Steven looked over at Kyanite, who shrugged in response, and jumped into the floor. Her body dove into the ground as if it was a pool of liquid. The demigem was left alone in the entrance of the golden palace, and stared at the solid-liquid floor.

He sighed, jumping in.

* * *

Steven didn't know how to describe the feeling other than, "jumping into a pool of ice cold, and _really_ heavy, water." He thought he would have suffocated through the exaggerated ordeal, but he popped out and into a dimly lit room. Torches were used on the walls instead of electronic lights, and it was probably for the aesthetic of the rest fo the room. The walls were dusty brown and had symbols of ancient writing all over it, like the insides of an Egyptian pyramid. That reminded him of the new Rebellion base. In the middle of the room was a concrete slab, suspiciously made to look his size.

Kyanite leaned against a wall. Matt pulled out a small sack and turned it upside-down, letting a white powder sprinkle around the concrete slab. The sorcerer was working on the sigils to be used in "reviving" Rose Quartz, and it settled what the concrete slab was to Steven. He would be lying down there.

And over in the corner of the room, standing in the darkness with the cobwebs and snakes, was Onyx. The most powerful Gem in the world was standing a few feet away from Steven, and he realized that this would be his first time meeting her. He saw Onyx through Stevonnie, so technically that didn't count, and he was unconscious when Onyx came around the second time. Now this is the third time she's done something that Steven knew of, and it would be the first time he saw her with his own eyes.

And she looked like death itself. A dark cloak that withered into trails at the ends. Crimson eyes staring unblinkingly under the hood. And he remembered that she had no mouth. She spoke telepathically.

Even though Stevonnie left Onyx mercy and maintained a neutral relationship, Steven still didn't feel friendly towards the dark Gem.

 _'Hello, Steven,'_ the dark Gem greeted telepathically. _'How are you?'_

Not used to the telepath thing, he winced and held the side of his head. There was a low hum in his skull now. "I'm... _fine_."

 _'Good. I thought it would've taken more time to rally you in here. I'm surprised you didn't have any other guests coming along.'_ Onyx said, _'Specifically, Lapis Lazuli.'_

"She's... lost." Steven said, ashamed that he had forgotten about Lapis' condition right now. But he was already here in this magic dimension, and he couldn't walk out now. They won't let him after getting this far. And telling Onyx the truth would be... well, he didn't know what would happen, he just didn't want to give her an honest answer. Maybe as a challenge. She _was_ going to lie to him about asking Rose Quartz for advice. This would make it even for them.

 _'The Lazuli is lost?'_ Onyx's blood-red eyes grew intense for a small bit. Steven felt a small spike in his head. _'No. She's not. She's imprisoned, and you_ know _that. You... were trying to lie to me?'_ She sounded hurt, which made Steven feel guilty of his words. _'Why would you even need to lie to me?'_

 _Why did I need to lie?_ Steven thought. He knew his answer, but telling Onyx he wanted payback for something that hadn't happened yet, would also mean that Kyanite would get in trouble. Unfortunately, his thoughts were already bombarded with, " _Because Kyanite told me you were going to lie to me."_

Onyx turned to Kyanite.

 _'You told him.'_

The cyan Gem gulped and stood straight, moving away from the wall. Kyanite knew that Onyx wouldn't hurt her, and even if she did (and she _had_ pretty recently, she poofed her four months ago), it would always be for her protection. But still, Onyx was the most powerful Gem in the world, she couldn't help but be intimidated by mere words in her head.

 _'I understand...'_ Onyx suddenly said, which didn't surprise Kyanite, but let her sigh in relief. The telepath would always snoop around in her mind, and Kyanite wouldn't have to argue with her that much. _'You didn't want to look like you betrayed him... I_ would _accuse you of siding with him rather than me. But I really can't fault you for that.'_

"Sigils are done!" Matt exclaimed, proudly dusting his hands off from his work. "Oh, and you _will_ need this..." He tossed a necklace to Onyx, who caught it without raising a finger. "...if you're successful getting Rose Quartz back, and I'm not here, then use the amulet. It's already finished, so... I actually don't need to be here anymore."

 _'But... What is it actually?'_ she asked.

"It's a magical amulet that lets nonphysical souls become physical!" he stated boldly. "Let Rose Quartz wear it when she comes out here in reality with your mind projection, and she'll become... a _reality_." Matt informed. He pointed at the slab, and turned his head to the demigem. "Steven, lie down there. We're going to start the process."

Steven cautiously went over to the block of stone. He couldn't help but move hesitantly when lying down, feeling like he was having his dental appointment a year ago. His school made it compulsory to have their classes visit the dentists each year for proper hygiene, and Steven was diagnosed to wear braces because his teeth weren't developing properly. Needless to say, that idea never came to fruition, as Lapis deemed it unnecessary and impractical. Steven, now laying on the stone slab, felt uncomfortable on the smooth, cold rock touching his back. He glanced at Kyanite, who observed him pitifully from the corner.

Matt went over to Steven's resting head, and placed his hands on both sides of his head.

"Alright, Onyx, prepare to jump," the sorcerer ordered the telepath, then focused on the demigem. "And to you, Steven Uni- _Lazuli_ , just close your eyes..." he told him, then raised his right hand to snap it, "and _sleep_."

He snapped his fingers.

* * *

Steven didn't know what to expect in his mind-scape.

When he closed his eyes, he saw nothing but phosphenes. When he heard the finger snap, he was in complete darkness. He couldn't see any of those stray primary colors without imagining them.

Then...

It was pink. There was a lot of things he liked. Pizza, cheese, donuts, cookie cats, his soft bed. And then there were things beyond that, which he finds himself being centered around time and time again. Wars, fights, explosions, fire, darkness. It was hell reincarnated, right inside his own mind. He didn't know that was even in there. He had a few nightmares about it, but he couldn't remember most of them. Here, he could recognize the path he took to escape the dangers in his dreams, the fights that took place in this maze he had. There was a half-sense of déjà vu. He didn't remember interacting with this place, but it felt so familiar. He'd been here before.

He remembered a smile. A laugh. A girl that was his best friend. He hadn't seen her in a while. It had been... what? Four months? He missed her. He missed the past.

Shortly after, there was rain, flood and the prospect of drowning. This happened around his mind-scape, in short bursts every time he thought of Lapis. Drops of water were sprayed everywhere. Navy blue, ultramarine and other dark colors splashed against the sky. Dark clouds were coalescing into one place, holding dark and frightening power. White sheets, the embodiment of souls, were going to that single point in the clouds.

 _'Lapis Lazuli,'_ Onyx suddenly said, snapping Steven back to reality. In that instant, everything went dark, as he recognized the voice of the telepath.

"Huh?" Steven twirled around, trying to look for the dark Gem.

 _'Makes sense, since you've lived with her all your life.'_

Darkness and shadows swirled into a tiny speck, glowing red. It exploded into white light, revealing Onyx. Her cloak was flowing in the wind, showing off her armored body. Steven wondered what she looked like under that, and another pointless fact was added to his head.

 _'Now, we need to find where Rose Quartz lurks.'_ Onyx informed. She raised her head. _'She has to be here somewhere, as you've confirmed it. We'll just need to go deeper...'_

"One question..." Steven said, interrupting Onyx. The absent background lit up and they were promptly hovering a hundred yards over the Earth. Yet, it looked smaller. Locations erupted, like Rose's fountain, a destroyed Kronos Quad, J-Son's wreckage, a flying Dexterity Castle, Steven's house in Promenade, the terrorist attack in Red Cuisine, Beach City, a highway filled with ice and scattered gemstones, the Kindergarten, and a new, upside-down, pyramid. All reminders of places Steven vividly remembers. "Why don't you stop the war yourself? You seem to have the power to do so. You can control everyone's minds, right?"

 _'Everyone except Emerald... and Pearl to an extent. Also Garnet. Oh... wait.'_ She paused for a second. _'You mean mind control? I can't really control them, just transfer telepathic messages, read minds, and manipulate senses.'_

"But Lapis told me you controlled all of them. How'd you subdue everyone?" he inquired.

 _'Holding down their gemstones,'_ she answered plainly.

He furthered his questions. "Can't you do that? To stop the war?" The background shifted, and now there were thousands of Gems running across Steven's playground, trying to murder each other.

 _'Yes. But it really won't do anything in the long run. I would run out of energy soon. Plus, Garnet warned me not to interact with the war.'_ The telepath said, _'But right now, I'm not interacting with the war. I'm just... helping out a friend.'_ Steven raised a brow at her, thinking about how Onyx shattered Lapis. He didn't think they were friends, more like acquaintances or "friend of a friend". _'I'm referring to Stevonnie.'_ She added.

Steven frowned. "Oh... well... _Garnet_ was around?" he asked.

 _'She found me, yes. Then told me not to interfere. But what does she know? She couldn't have possibly seen every and all outcomes. And she's also interfering with the war herself, despite also being a powerful entity that can stop_ time _. Hypocrite,'_ she remarked critically.

"Garnet talked to Lapis yesterday. And then Lapis was gone." he informed, and simultaneously, the sky had a ruby-red swirl against a sapphire-blue background.

Onyx looked up at the boy's changing mental state. She watched the red and blue sky suck up the clouds and storms, like a black hole. That told her plenty of what Steven thought of the fusion. _'Do you think Garnet has something to do with it?'_

Steven looked away from her red eyes, ashamed. "Yeah..." He knew that Garnet was a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire, to people he could trust. The former was a leader of the Rebellion and arguably Lapis' most recent best friend, and the latter was the first Crystal Gem he met that he didn't feel hostile towards at any point. Yet, with all those facts, he couldn't get it out of his head that there was something off with their fusion.

The dark Gem lingered around for a bit, taking in the sight of Steven's psyche. There was war and death, close friends wounded or shattered, a green blur moving at speeds greater than she could imagine. The stars that were light years away twinkled brightly, then exploded from alien-looking ships... and the explosions were coming closer, Peridot's warnings echoing in the distance. There was Pearl on the battlefield, leading her charge perfectly and gracefully, while the rebels were chaotic and vulnerable. There was Amethyst, getting beaten up by a giant fusion of Gems, a hundred of them teaming up against her. Black Pearl and Kyanite were teaming together to fight against the Revolution. Then Howlite, Pyrite, Moonstone and Hematite fought back. Then, the Rebellion had more extra members that stood out, a few Jaspers, a Peridot, a blue Pearl, and two Beryls.

They were all fighting. Poofing and shattering. Causing destruction everywhere. There was no order to this, just mass chaos that even Onyx couldn't follow. She felt as if she was watching a movie, and anyone could die at any point. Onyx felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. She felt _vulnerable_.

This was the world in Steven's eyes.

Onyx turned away and her eyes caught a ravine. A deep crack into the grounds below the battle, which everyone in Steven's mind overlooked as if they didn't know it was there. Heck, a few Gems ran over the giant crack in the ground, and looked as if it was protected by some invisible barrier that made them look like they were flying. It was glowing pink from the inside, and she thought it was where Rose Quartz was harbored. She turned to Steven and pulled him from the disturbing sights.

 _'We should go.'_

* * *

It was blank, white space.

The two had flown in a straight line for a few hours, trying to delve deeper.

Or, maybe a bit longer than a few hours. In silence. Waiting that long without any other outside variables made Steven feel... very uncomfortable. There was at least some sound, but there was none. His ears were just buzzing.

It was just breaking down his spirit.

"Maybe mom isn't really here..." Steven dejectedly said. He couldn't see any changes with their location. For all he knew, they could be staying in place right now. There was no change in the background, just a void of pure white. The only evidence that they were moving was the feeling of wind splashing against their faces. "Maybe it was all just in my head. And I'm crazy."

 _'Don't be so pessimistic,'_ Onyx replied. _'We've never lost before.'_

Steven raised a brow at that. She sounded so casual about it too, and she said that line as if they were the best of friends. That made Steven uneasy. Onyx was trying to be a good person, and that didn't sit well with him, since he had envisioned her as a bad guy since day one. It was something he couldn't get rid off in his mind, no matter how much he reminded himself that she wasn't actually evil. Her first impression on him really left a scar.

After a few more seconds of raw silence, Steven piped up with a question. "How long have we been searching?"

 _'It depends. We've been in your head for a couple hours,'_ she told him. _'But it could be mere minutes in reality, or maybe the opposite. Maybe it's been days since we were unconscious.'_

The demigem contemplated at his chances. If it had been days, then he was gone longer than he would like for the Rebellion's state, and nobody there knew what he was doing. He hoped Kyanite told them since she was the only one else who knew of the situation, and that she wasn't here with them. And Lapis! She was stuck somewhere in the Revolution! Or, maybe, she could find a way out? She had always prevailed, but he felt that this time, _he_ needed to save her. And if it's been days, then Lapis would be waiting for days too... which is _not_ good. Then, there were other factors Steven thought that would denounce the "being stuck there for days" theory.

"Well, it can't be the last one, because I'll die of starvation." he reasoned.

 _'Not to worry, I have already informed Kyanite to feed you three times an Earth cycle if we don't come back the following day. Which could be a few hours later, or it could have already passed and she's feeding you as we speak.'_

Steven blushed. He imagined Kyanite having to feed him while he's unconscious, then he thought of how awkward it will be for her. He hoped they were here for only a few seconds and popped out like they hadn't been searching for hours. That would be much better and it would save them from being awkward around each other. And, it would save their time. "Really? That's... _very_... I don't know what to say."

 _'Well, she has no choice. If she doesn't, you'll die.'_ Onyx stated.

"It's weird," he admitted.

 _'What_ isn't _weird about your life?'_

Steven thought about it for a moment, deciding to challenge Onyx again. "My bed?"

 _'Beds are weird,'_ she informed, _'It's just a place humans go to for nightly rituals of recovery.'_

"When you put it in _your_ perspective, I guess beds _would_ be weird." Steven replied.

 _'I win.'_ Onyx grinned, though he couldn't see it with the hood covering her face. It faded away the next moment, as she checked reality, gritting her teeth. _'Oh, shit.'_

"What?" the demigem inquired.

 _'It's been a month already,'_ she informed, eyes widening. She paused in her flight, her black aura splashing around and fading away.

"Are... you sure?" Steven asked incredulously, lifting his hands for his eyes to see. He didn't see anything changing with him, or noticed any irregularity in his body. He also didn't want to believe that in a few mere hours, a month had already passed. So many negative implications could happen with him not being around. And he would miss out on things regarding the civil war happening between all the Gems on Earth. Was Lapis okay? Was Black Pearl or the Peridot okay? What was Emerald planning? Were there any battles since he disappeared? He didn't know anything. "I don't feel any different. And I _don't_ feel like I've starved over the last few minutes. Or feel anyone feeding me."

 _'You're in here, focused on your mind. You're not conscious in reality.'_ Onyx reminded. She then sighed, _'What the hell am I doing? I saw a crack of pink light and followed it. It should've been a sign of Rose Quartz. But all we're getting is limbo. Your young mind shouldn't be this complicated...'_

Steven nodded, taking that information. He didn't understand it, but he did remember how his mind-scape shape shifted to fit his thoughts. He had thought about Lapis Lazuli, Garnet and Onyx, and the background of his mind shifted colors with it. He decided to think of Rose Quartz for a moment, their goal. Seeing as how his mind hadn't shaped Rose Quartz into their sights, or... dream-sights, he decided to make her shield appear, just to see if it'll work.

His shield appeared, but no Rose Quartz was in sight.

 _'What are you doing?'_ Onyx asked gruffly.

"Trying to bring Rose Quartz here if I think of her _really_ hard." Steven said.

Onyx thought that would be a sure-fire way to bring Rose Quartz out, but she realized something.

 _'Wait... You... never really knew her,'_ she said. _'I don't think you know her enough to call upon her. Do you even_ know _what she looks like?'_

 _What she looks like?_ Steven mused.

The only time he remembered seeing his mom would be the statue back in the old base, back when Ruby was in charge of the Rebellion. It was gray, _pale_ , but it looked so _strong_ and _powerful_. He only caught a glimpse of it. Then, even further beyond that, he remembered finding a photo of his mom in Lion's mane. Though, he didn't know why he had that. Steven saw only the colors of her pink hair and pale skin she had. Still, that was only a glimpse, just like the statue. He realized, even with the two years he's known the Gems, he didn't know what his mom looked like. He didn't even know the color of her eyes.

The demigem's own black eyes went to Onyx as he shook his head.

"No, I've never really seen what she looks like," he confessed.

 _'Then how do you think you'll be able to conjure her if you have no idea how she looks. You're probably still thinking vaguely about her. You've heard different stories, and you don't know her true self.'_ Onyx stated, before snapping her fingers peremptorily. _'Of course! Why didn't I think of this?'_

"You found an answer?" he asked.

 _'We should link minds. I'll be able to show you what Rose Quartz was like.'_ The dark Gem said.

"So, we're linking minds so you can show me my mom so that we can conjure up my mom, _in_ my mind, which means we're linking the minds of ourselves in my mind, where we're trying to find Rose Quartz..." he said intricately, trying to make a joke. "Couldn't _you_ just conjure her up?"

 _'It wouldn't actually_ be _her. Just how_ I _would portray her.'_ The telepath stated stated. _'I need the real Rose Quartz. Her actual mind and soul.'_

The demigem held his chin in thought. "Then, wouldn't it be your interpretation I would be seeing if we link minds?" he told her.

 _'Hmph, you make a good point,'_ Onyx replied, mimicking his action of holding the chin. _'But... if I showed you a memory instead... A true one, about Rose Quartz. One that I can vividly remember... I would link you with that memory, and if not manipulated, wouldn't have any biases from me. You'll be seeing her true self, then maybe you could conjure Rose Quartz up after that.'_

"I think that's a plan," Steven replied with an excited grin. He was going to be able to see his mom! For real! What her true colors were...

Onyx reached her hands out to Steven, and placed the tips of her index and middle fingers on his temples.

 _'I'm going to show you a memory I had with Rose Quartz. I didn't have many with her. We weren't exactly the best of friends...'_

The boy didn't even close his eyes.

And everything around him already melded color.

* * *

The vastness of space.

It spanned so infinitely. It seemed endless.

Steven looked around, finding trillions of stars twinkling away. The lights clashing against the bleakness of space, sending out arrays of different colors, making it look so beautiful. So delicate. All of these galaxies were out there, orbiting, creating a slow-moving painting on an infinite, three-dimensional canvas. Meteorites flew past his eyes, looking like white spherical rain drops, they didn't have any trails of fire behind them like he had imagined.

He watched planets go by. Each one, very unique in size, shape and composition.

Steven craned his head to the side, finding out he was just looking through a wall of glass, on a space ship, with a tall lady beside him. She had a huge amount of pink, curly hair that went down her back. A white dress that seemed iconic and had the layering of a rose at the bottom. Her face... so familiar. They were like the statue's, except... more lively. Her eyes were open, showing two black watching orbs, just like his own.

This was her.

It was Rose Quartz.

Steven stared wide-eyed. It was her, the legend, the Gem he'd only heard stories about, his _mother_.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Her voice was soft and held genuine compassion in her tone. Yet, there was a certain sadness Steven could pick up. Mostly because he heard it from himself too.

"We're free from Homeworld. White Diamond let us go," Rose added. "I hope she could handle things with Yellow Diamond from then on. After all, at least, it isn't _Blue_ Diamond." she chuckled. Her attempt at a joke didn't garner much attention from the others. Wait, _others_?

"I _still_ can't believe what happened. White Diamond must have something in her mind by letting you go." a male voice said, which surprised Steven. The demigem looked to his side and saw a black colored Gem. Steven tried to think who it was, before remembering that Onyx was part of the fusion Jet... her counterpart was Obsidian. This Gem was _Obsidian_. The _real_ one, not an image conjured up by Onyx's mind. Steven stared in wonder... he was looking at another ghost of the present.

"We made a deal," Rose replied. "She would expand her empire through peaceful means instead, and I wouldn't get in her way. So we were on the same side, and she distracted Yellow Diamond for us to escape."

"Making deals with Diamonds now?" Obsidian smirked, then turned his head in a cliché way. Steven rolled his eyes at that, before realizing it couldn't be cliché if it happened five thousand years ago. "Rose, you rascal. How do you do it?"

 _'You truly are a gift, Rose.'_ Steven heard Onyx say. The demigem looked around, unable to find the telepath, before taking a step to the right, to find Onyx standing in his place. It was weird... standing with these ghosts, and _he_ was the one most akin to a ghost in this situation. _'If it weren't for you... we would've been shattered.'_

Rose's small smile turned a bit into a frown, struggling to keep herself smiling to encourage the others. Steven could see through her facade. He could feel all her emotions bubbling up through the years of fighting, the guilt of not being there for her soldiers since being MIA for _fifty_ years. She was reaching her limit, she wanted to cry. She wanted to leave this life and be alone for the rest of her existence. The older pink Quartz grinned, needing to keep her enthusiasm on for the others.

"Don't talk like that, Onyx," she said, her voice wavering. "You can do plenty without me. You just need to think out of the box with your abilities. You could be the most powerful one besides the rest of us, if you mastered your telepathy."

Onyx nodded. _'Thank you... But, you're the one that sparked our courage to stand up. Without you, we would've never gone out of our way to become what we wanted most.'_

Rose gave an inspiring smile, and seeing it for the first time, Steven wished he could pull that off. He didn't realize it was the same smile he gave everyone when he was feeling extremely happy about himself. "You're too much, Onyx."

Onyx nodded her head down bashfully, inwardly soaking up her hero's attention. Seeing her like that made Steven rethink how he should envision Onyx. She wasn't that much of a bad guy when she was younger. He certainly wouldn't have guessed this was the same person who would go on to shatter Lapis. Not while she was basking in his mother's compliment.

 _This was Onyx's most vivid memory,_ Steven giggled at that thought.

Rose sighed, putting her hands on her hips. She started frowning at the ground. Her thoughts were clouded with wanting to leave the group to be alone for some time. A break for herself.

"Is something the matter, Rose?" a familiar voice said, putting Steven on his nerves. His eyes darted to Rose's side and saw Pearl standing there, concerned. Her baby-blue eyes were focused on Rose's features. "You don't look well."

Steven felt his stomach churn at the sight. Pearl giving his mother a worried look. He had never seen Pearl that way. He always remembered her being broody. Still, he couldn't help but give a sad smile towards the Pearl, who in the future of this memory, would become a nightmare to him.

"If there's anything wrong, we're here for you," a tall woman said, approaching Rose. Steven gasped. _Garnet_. He had expected to see more of Ruby and Sapphire, just like the latter one's story, but it seemed she had left something out; Garnet had been fused long before he thought he knew. He just thought it was just something like Onyx and Obsidian, but they were fused right now. Not for power, but because could, and for Garnet to exist. Or at least, that's what he thought.

Rose sighed, "No... _No_. Nothing is wrong. I just... It's finally here, the moment we've been waiting for. We're officially _free_. There's no more fighting."

Garnet smiled, "I can attest to that."

Steven's eyes narrowed. He remembered there was still another war to be fought on Earth, and judging from what they had said, they hadn't been there yet. _Did you just lie...?_

According to Sapphire's story, he figured that this was after Blue Diamond's banishment, and Rose's escape from Yellow Diamond. And after that, they were going to Earth. This was the period of time between the third war and the fourth war. The period between Earth and Homeworld. There was no Amethyst or Kyanite to be seen. And they were just talking about how White Diamond dealing with Yellow Diamond. This had to be after Blue Diamond's banishment, if memory served correct.

The demigem immediately felt a sense of intrusion.

He held his head instinctively. Then, he saw Rose Quartz facing the same pang of discomfort, and glanced at Onyx. Steven's eyes went over to the telepath, who was staring directly at Rose.

Steven thought of why Onyx had to do something with it. And then, he remembered Kyanite's words earlier that day (or month): _"I've heard other things from Onyx too. During the war times, Onyx has seen what goes on inside Rose's head. She was just trying to find out what makes Rose Quartz tick, how she could become such a strong Quartz, to have the tenacity to continue... And well, she found something else..."_

Onyx was intruding Rose Quartz's mind. It happened right before his very eyes, and he felt it happen.

But now he knew, she actually looked into her mind to see what's wrong.

And this was the memory Onyx most remembered about Rose.

* * *

Steven's vision faded back into his mind-scape.

"You were a total fangirl!" was the first thing he blurted out, since he felt he had to tease Onyx for Lapis' sake. If Lapis had known about this, she would've done the same thing.

Onyx just blinked at him, with dilated red eyes. _'Promise not to tell Lazuli.'_

Steven's grin faded. "Oh... right. _Sure_."

 _'I'm serious,'_ Onyx replied, her eyes narrowing. _'You tell her... and I won't ever help you.'_

Steven's eyes widened at that threat. Onyx's help would _definitely_ be a plus. If she were on his side, he would win _any_ battle. He knew she wouldn't participate in battles, as she could win immediately, and it would still be pointless for her. Plus, Garnet had already warned her not to, as her presence could potentially bring more casualties to both sides of the war. Any kind of help would be great from Onyx, even if... it took a month for that help to arrive.

Steven was having second thoughts about this whole situation. The worst part, in his opinion, was that a whole month of his life was erased. And it could never be taken back.

 _'Well, kid, I guess we did it.'_ Onyx informed.

Steven's eyes looked around at the white background. Nothing had changed. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Suddenly, the whole room shifted pink.

 _'It's time you actually meet your mother,'_ said Onyx.

The demigem's heart paused for a second. "W-Wait... _really_?"

 _'You had expected us to fail finding Rose Quartz?'_ she asked dryly.

"No. It's just... I didn't think I'd get to meet..."

Steven didn't have time to finish that sentence, as the pink room opened up on itself, pushing Steven and Onyx out into a grassy field with a giant tree on a hill, on a sunny afternoon. A few butterflies fluttered around, but ultimately, those didn't matter, as Steven's focus headed immediately for his mother. His eyes hurriedly looked around this realm, which looked exactly like Lion's _di-mane-sion_ , except, with actual natural colors. There weren't any clouds in the artificial cerulean sky.

Under the lone giant balm tree, sat a big woman.

Steven's eyes were fixed on Rose Quartz

The _real_ one, and not just a statue, or a photo or a memory. She had consciousness, as far as he could tell. The demigem caught his breath, still in shock with this new development. He never thought he would meet her, until recently, and it still boggled his mind. There was a lot he heard about her, and he saw her in her fullest just a moment ago. And this was the moment of truth. The boy glanced at Onyx, who egged him on with a mere nod.

The twelve year-old boy neared Rose Quartz, who stood up from her place. To finally meet each other for the first time.

The boy came into talking distance with his mother, only a few feet apart from each other. The first thing that crossed their minds was the notable height differences between them; one was short and the other was really tall. They stared at each other with innocent eyes, waiting for the other to start. Rose waited patiently for Steven to speak up, and the demigem did the same thing. The silence turned awkward after ten seconds, with both panicking inwardly at how bad of a first impression they made on each other.

Onyx was observing and mentally facepalmed.

"So, uh..."

"How are things..."

They both said at the same time, sweating profusely from their mishap. Steven pointed at Rose Quartz to talk first.

"How are things going on down, my son?" Rose asked, then realized how terribly she mucked up her sentence. She didn't know what to say, and she just made it up as she went, like all her lines. And this was just disappointing, nothing was going as smooth as she hoped. "I mean, how are you?"

"I'm fine," Steven didn't like that generic answer and corrected himself, "Fantastic! I mean." That was a lie, and he wouldn't want to lie to his mother. "But, not really. Because, there's a war going on. So, I'm just..." He scratched the back of his head, still unable to converse properly with his mother. "...I dunno."

"Yes, a war... That's right. I heard about that. And just like a turtle, I retreated into my shell for self-defense." Rose said bluntly. She contemplated at the grass.

Steven raised a brow at that. "Okay..."

Rose and Steven stood around, not maintaining eye contact anymore because they thought it was weirding the other out. "What are you here for?" the mother asked concernedly. "You must've gone great lengths to find me."

"Well, we need help in the war. And Kyanite and Onyx said this would be the best plan." Steven informed.

 _Of course, what else was I expecting?_ Rose mused, as she asked, "Which is?"

Steven shrugged and said, "We were going to revive you."

"Oh," Rose nodded. The short answers they made ended in another awkward silence, yet again.

Onyx stepped in. _'Rose, we're in need of your help.'_

Rose Quarts stepped up her professionalism for her former stood straighter and nodded her head affirmatively towards Onyx in respect. The telepath just narrowed her eyes at Rose, the gem that bubbled her with their friends. Onyx mellowed out, as this was the legendary Rose Quartz, and nothing was going to change that.

"Well, I do think I could help with some advice..."

 _'No.'_

"Uh, pardon?"

 _'We've traveled for a month to find you,'_ Onyx informed, leaning forward to accentuate her scowl. _'We're not gonna take some lousy advice from you. I've come here to bring you back from the dead.'  
_

"So, it's true," Rose raised a brow. "This revival plan is serious." Inwardly, she was surprised that Onyx was even around, helping her son, _and_ talking to her. After what she did to her, she didn't think Onyx would forgive her that easily. Then again, Onyx was being hostile to her.

The pink Quarts let out a deep sigh.

"I don't believe revival is possible. And even if it does... I'll have to be honest with you guys, I don't really want to come back." Rose informed, turning to the two. "As nice as it has been meeting you, Steven... I don't want to participate in another war."

Steven frowned. This whole trip would've been for nothing if he responded with his most suitable answer, _"I understand."_ But he lost a month of his life in a span of a few hours for this. A whole month passed for the world without him. And being an important figure, he didn't think the Rebellion had any time left. Saying "I understand" to his mother would be a slap to Onyx's face.

So, he kept quiet.

Onyx grabbed Rose by the wrist. _'I'm not coming back empty handed.'_

Rose was about to retort with using Steven instead of her, but that would've sounded incredibly selfish and not what she would've meant at all. So, she kept quiet.

Unfortunately, Onyx's touch brought Rose out of Steven's mind-scape, leaving the demigem alone in that part of his subconscious.

* * *

Quadroki Enquare...

A blinding light surfaced the room, taking form of a large woman in a pink hue. The light died down and revealed pale skin, frilly pink hair, and a white dress. Her eyes opened to reveal two black orbs, confused, angry and shocked. She looked down at the body of a young boy. Her own son, who was still lying on the slab, unconscious. She stared, watching her twelve year-old boy breathe quietly, his chest rising and falling peacefully. She let her fingers brush against his hair, only to find her hand pass through him as if she was a ghost.

Her eyes darted towards Onyx, who gradually lifted her head to look at her.

 _'Am I...'_ Rose Quartz trailed off, not knowing what to say. Her words weren't real, just Onyx's telepathy broadcasting it. She looked at her hands, clenching and unclenching them. _'I'm not... here. I can't feel it. I can't feel_ him _.'_

 _'You're still a body that I've made up.'_ Onyx informed. _'No one can see you until I make them.'_

Rose sighed.

 _'_ _So, what's your plan, huh? Make me walk around as a figment of your imagination?'_ she demanded aggressively, still mad about bringing her back into this world. It still didn't make sense to her why Onyx thought it was a good plan. Rose didn't know what would happen after the invitation, and the only thought she had was that it would cost Steven. They couldn't exist at the same time. It would be impossible.

And then, it didn't seem impossible anymore.

Onyx understood what she was thinking. _'He won't wake while you're here. Only one of you can hold the soul, of which you both share.'_

 _'Then what's the point?!'_ Rose shouted throwing her hands up frustratingly. _'I'm just a ghost anyway!'_

 _'Calm down,'_ Onyx said. _'You think I haven't thought of this? I've already gotten a specialist to help with this situation.'_ The telepath tossed Rose Quartz the magic necklace, one that had a powerful aura of magic that will turn virtual souls into a reality. The Legendary Quartz caught it with one hand, and was surprised to see that she could hold it. Then realized it may be Onyx's doing. She had telekinesis, after all.

Rose sighed, gazing down at the floor to regain her thoughts. She looked up at Onyx again, finally registering what's happening. She was back, back from the dead.

She took a deep breath, and recomposed herself. _'I'm tired, Onyx. I don't want to fight anymore. If you had... brought me back... maybe to have a picnic, I would be glad. But... you brought me back to fight a_ war _...'_

Onyx just stood face-to-face with the legendary Rose Quartz. _'I know this can be taxing... But you're the only one I know that can stop this war.'_

Rose Quartz had a distant look in her eyes. She had just come back from being dead, and it seemed the Universe is certain of one thing about her destiny, the subject that will forever come back to haunt her, one that she was infamous for. She will _always_ be fighting. Her destiny was to battle, to claim victory, all in hopes that she could live the rest of her life in peace. It never came. She was in a perpetual state of fighting.

 _'I was extremely lucky.'_ Rose Quartz admitted, her fingers rubbing against the necklace. Faint trails of magical aura were excreted into the air. _'I'm sorry... I don't want to do this anymore...'_

Onyx just stared. Before glancing at the boy between them.

Rose Quartz laid her eyes on the demigem, her son. He could never live a normal life, something she's always wanted for him. Threats will emerge from every crack and corner of the realms, and she could not stop that from happening.

The legendary rebel knew what Onyx was alluding to. And she couldn't object her son's safety. She glared daggers at the dark Gem for using her son like that.

The necklace was brought over her head, going down past her face, and settling itself across her chest.

Pink light escaped the necklace and wrapped around the projection of Rose Quartz, turning her into complete light.

And then, the legendary Rose Quartz was _reborn_.

* * *

 **A/N: Hm. All that waiting around for this. How long has it been? Three weeks? God, with the pacing and the stuff I'm supposed to do, I'm so sorry for making you guys wait. Then again, the chapters nowadays are really frickin' long, so... eh. Also, we reached 350K words.  
**

 **Plot twists are comin' out left and right.**

 **Also, I opened _another_ Pandora's box, didn't I?**

"I just wanted to be with the cool kids and revive Rose Quartz like those other fanfics. Except, this one is 'unique' (egotistical prick), because it took OP magic and OP Gem power to bring Rose back (and about 300k words of other stuff), while also keeping Steven in the physical world. Bonus points for not poofing Steven. Oh, who am I kidding? He'll die if that happens. This is also what happens if you accidentally write that Rose Quartz was still alive through Steven, when her character should be nonexistent and shouldn't be able to communicate with Steven from her gemstone. Honestly, I was going to put, "Rose Quartz's voice inside Steven's head is actually just a memory unit she placed, just like _the_ _Epsilon_ from _Red vs Blue_." I even built it up early in the chapter when they discussed how Rose Quartz would only talk in Steven's first times. But I couldn't do that, it would be such a cop-out, even if it did make sense." - me

 **Onyx is black. Rose Quartz is a rose. Black Rose. It signifies death and hatred, but it also signifies _rebirth_. Yeah! Forced, yet somehow accidental, symbolism!**

 **School is back, guys! And so comes hindering the updates. Or, I'll probably have the writers' block gone and somehow update it faster than before. Anyways, I'll confirm that I have to update on 28/9/16, because that's the birthday of this story. So, either chapter 54 comes out on that day, or if we're lucky, chapter 55.**

* * *

New Episode Stuff:

 _Mindful Education:_ Ohhhhh, we're heading into deep shhtuff. ...Also, _"My name Jeff."_

 _Future Boy Zoltron:_ Before this episode was released, I thought by a no-filler story standpoint, that if this episode were to be classified as non-filler, that Steven would get visions of imminent threats by the end of the episode. I thought the episode would go like this: Steven breaks Zoltron, gets Garnet's future vision to predict people's outcomes, becomes the Zoltron puppet, and accidentally predicts the future of the world, further scarring him by knowing the horrors of the future.

 _Last One Out Of Beach City:_ bad!Pearl is canon. All she has to do is curse and smoke.

* * *

Replies to guests:

 _Daniel:_ Me too. I waited a long time as well.

 _my biggest fan:_ I'm so sorry I gave you a hard time. I have no reason to scare you guys like that.

 _David Blackwood:_ At least I don't update at GRRM levels of speed, hah! JK. These chapters are so long...

( -_-)=€|_|

* * *

Breaking News: HAH. You thought this was about the Homeworld Gems reforming? Hell nah, we 'bout to pull some magic reincarnation shiet up in this bish'.

Next Chapter's Title: "Oh, Ye Hero Hath Cometh"


	57. Chapter 54: Oh, Ye Hero Hath Cometh

**A/N: I'm really sorry that this took so long and that the deadline I set up was... _vastly_ inaccurate.**

 **Anyway... Woohoo! It's the story's first anniversary! _Late_. 54 chapters, or 370K+ words, made in a year ** (and _three_ months) **! Fantastic!**

 **I have no gifts. I mean, for you guys. _However_ , t** **his is also the _longest_ chapter, by far, so... will this make up for it?  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 54:** _Oh, Ye Hero Hath Cometh_

 **Civil War: Part 12**

* * *

Two months ago... February. Crystal Temple.  


Pearl had just realized she couldn't hurt Steven.

She could never do such thing.

Even when he'd called her a monster, or glared at her direction furiously, she couldn't bring herself to harm him. Not when she had cared for him the first months of his life, and endured all of the grief throughout the decade he had been gone, while all she could remember was that sadistic look Lapis had when taking Steven away from them. Pearl could still recall the malice in her face, the true look of the devil. And now, that event had all been discarded, and everyone liked Lapis and acted as if her kidnapping Steven never happened. As if Steven was Lapis' and wasn't theirs. She stole their legacy. Why did everyone forgive her so easily? It made Pearl furious thinking about it.

Rose Quartz was _hers_. Pearl fought valiantly to protect her. To assert her dominance over others. Rose Quartz was part of the Crystal Gems, and Steven was theirs. Not Lapis', he was _theirs_.

Rose had fought as the leader of the Crystal Gems for centuries, forging solid memories with Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst and other Crystal Gems. The pain they had to endure when she gave up her body to produce Steven was heartbreaking, and in their most vulnerable moment, Lapis took Steven and they never saw him for the next ten years. It wasn't easy to forgive that ocean Gem for what she had done in Pearl's eyes. Lapis Lazuli was despicable.

Pearl cupped her face in her hands. She was thinking about Lapis again. Her thoughts end up with her. Every time. Even when Lapis was already locked up where she couldn't control water, Pearl blamed her. She was _obsessed_ , and she couldn't help it.

Jade noticed the warrior's discomfort.

"Are you okay?" she asked, "Did I say something?" A realization struck her. "Should I stop asking questions?"

Pearl stared up at her gauntlet, and focused on one single location that was on the face of the planet. In that moment, for some reason Pearl couldn't understand why, multiple energy signals of Gems started covering up that location...

The Kindergarten.

The white Gem glanced at Jade. She ignored everything else, and concentrated on making decisions. Her voice went strict, "We're not going to go after them. Yet. We're going to spy on them. We're not going to engage in conflict. We're going to wait it out until we have the advantage."

Jade nodded in assent.

Pearl took that answer and jabbed a finger at the direction of the Crystal Temple's Warp Pad. "Let's go."

"Wait, _now_?" Jade asked nervously. She didn't feel like going for a mission after what happened with this Homeworld mess. She just proved herself to be useless. And now she sounded suspicious.

Pearl merely raised a brow at her, and without any words, just using her eyes, asked if there was a problem.

Jade added, "I was just... _surprised_ that you'd... enlist _my_ help on the battlefield after all I've done."

"You're the closest Gem I have right now. Pyrite has been poofed. Moonstone is too far. Amethyst is at the base. Howlite is... I don't know _where_ she is, actually." Pearl said. "And, this is a stealth mission."

"Right," Jade steeled herself, voice hoarse like always. "No need for conflict."

Pearl scanned the jade-green ninja. Her body language was upright and confident, but her fingers was jittery. Jade noticed and balled them into fists.

"I'm fine," the Gem reassured.

The white knight slowly raised her hand and pointed two fingers at Jade's forehead. The ninja stared up at it for three whole seconds, before smacking it away. Pearl let out a dry chuckle. "We're going then."

* * *

The Revolution duo materialized atop the Warp Pad nearby the Kindergarten.

 _The pillar of light must've alerted the Rebellion,_ Pearl had thought. She dipped her head forward. _Even though we're miles away, I'm sure Emerald had made some preemptive arrangements._

The white knight scanned her eyes over the plains of graying rock. She held her arm out to Jade, preventing her from moving forward. Even though when she wasn't planning to. Pearl's eyes picked up the small details of the land, and crouched down to inspect the rock. She swayed the grains of rock away and revealed a pressurized land mine.

"They must have other traps laid around here." Jade noted.

"Because they're going away. They don't need secrecy anymore. Emerald must've set these down recently. They're new." Pearl said, digging the sides of the land mine and picking the trap up as if it was a mere toy.

Jade leaped into the air to get a better sight of the Kindergarten. She dropped down beside Pearl, telling her, "No one's headed here. They're not going to defend... In fact, nobody is around."

"Nice observation," Pearl said dryly. She set down the land mind carefully and stood up. "Use your speed. Take us away."

Jade picked Pearl up by the scruff of her neck and pulled her out of the radius of the mine field. Her supersonic speed enabled her to escape any explosion she triggered. They ended up at the edge of the Kindergarten in a matter of seconds. Jade let go of Pearl and folded her arms.

"Sometimes, I forget you're _actually_ fast," Pearl admitted, then suggested, "You could do a perimeter scan."

Jade blurred out and vanished for a moment. She came back in a minute and shook her head. "They're gone."

Pearl held her chin in thought.

Jade grimaced. "We'll have to think like Emerald. Where _would_ he go?"

"He's seen the world." Pearl replied. "We'll have to check every other Gem hotspot. If they're not there, then we'll pick out places that are best suited for hiding an entire army of Gems."

"That would take a long time." Jade said.

"Not if I order other Gems to split up and observe places on a schedule." Pearl stated. "They'll have to report back on time, or else we'll have to suspect them. If they're gone for five minutes over their schedule, it's safe to assume they've been kidnapped. I'm sure with our numbers, and the locations to visit scheduled for an amount of time. It will be done in no time."

The light-green Gem confessed, "I forgot we were on a small planet."

Pearl glanced at her, before looking at the Kindergarten. Before she could say anything about looking in the Kindergarten, her gauntlet beeped. She lifted her arm, and saw the notifications sent to her. There were two messages. One was about the rebels. The other was about _Amethyst_.

Her eyes widened.

"We have to get back." Pearl informed urgently.

Jade tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Why?"

* * *

The Revolution Gem Prison Facility.

Pearl watched the surveillance footage from her gauntlet while inspecting the prison facility.

Every Gem they had ever put in here was gone. The only one they had left was Lapis Lazuli. They stationed her on the _moon_ , where there was no water. Not even oxygen or hydrogen to start a chemical procedure. They sucked out all air from the moon base, and all that was left was some helium they brought in to transfer sound waves around the place. The moon was over three hundred thousand miles away from the Earth, away from water. Lapis had also been subdued with Gem tranquilizers just in case. Pearl could never be too sure with Lapis.

Jade watched the footage over Pearl's shoulder, and found something quite peculiar. The observation room just above them was controlled with something invisible. If she had to guess, it would be another Gem that had participated in this event, is a rebel, and had the same camouflage ability as herself. She would have to investigate this herself.

Pearl's eyes were glued to the screen, watching as the inmates of the facility ganged up on Amethyst, and...

 _War. Home. Pain._

The feeling swelled up in her. The same feeling she had felt during her time on Earth's Gem war five thousand years ago. When Homeworld came down, ordered for Rose Quartz's death, and seeing her friends get hurt on the battlefield. She felt a fire light up inside her. Getting brighter and brighter.

A fire burning. Hotter. And _hotter_.

That's rage.

 _They hurt her,_ Pearl thought. _They had no reason to... They could've just ran away... not go head on and fight her... and yet..._

Steven showed up on her screen. He healed Amethyst. Healed her. He had to _heal_ her.

 _They cracked her. They planned to kill her. All of them wanted to_ kill _._

Pearl's breathing went erratic.

A hand firmly clamped itself on Pearl's shoulder, snapping her back to reality. The white Gem looked at the gray hand, then her eyes led to an arm, then to a empathetic face. Howlite. She was holding Amethyst's gemstone out to her.

"I'm sorry..." Howlite said, as Pearl took the purple Gem from her hand. "...I should've been here."

"If you had been here... Steven would have to fight you." Pearl informed, causing Howlite to frown. "Then, there would be no time. Amethyst would be shattered." Pearl held Amethyst closer to her chest. Her glossy eyes stared straight into Howlite's worried ones. "I don't know how to politely say this without sounding bad, but... Be glad you weren't there."

Howlite had to look up at Pearl due to being shorter than her. The silver Gem shuffled her feet silently, not knowing how to put this information. Pearl was right, it did sound bad. It sounded like she said it would be better if she wasn't here at all. She knew Pearl wasn't saying that... Better to throw the memory behind her. Don't overthink it. Her time visiting BP was... _Black Pearl_. She escaped too.

Jade leaned back, narrowing her eyes. "I'll have to... check on something."

Pearl and Howlite watched Jade storm off to the only exit. The former sighed and cupped the side of her head. Howlite inspected her stressed state, then awkwardly wrapped her arms around Pearl. The white Gem felt a clamp around her midsection and turned to Howlite, who was _hugging_ her.

"Why are you doing that?" Pearl asked, a little annoyed.

"Steven told me about hugs," Howlite answered, blushing furiously. "I researched stuff about it. I thought you needed one, since... it's been a rough day."

Pearl couldn't help but sigh again, and brought an arm around Howlite to cover the latter's embarrassment. Then, a smirk played on her lips. "How did you show affection to _your_ Black Pearl, if you didn't know about hugs?"

Howlite gave Pearl a tight squeeze, as a warning. Then, she remembered about Black Pearl. "Right. Black Pearl... She, uh... I have some bad news about her."

"She escaped." Pearl stated unsurprisingly. "She should be in good hands with Steven."

"You're not mad?"

"I expected it." Pearl replied, "There wasn't much intel I could recover from her. Her getting out at the same time as everyone else is kind of... the whole package."

Howlite returned to Pearl's question. "And for your information, I showed her how to fight. That's how we appreciated each other. We sparred."

" _Oh_?" Pearl humorously teased. "Interesting..."

"I don't get how that's interesting." Howlite let go of Pearl, but she wasn't budging. "Okay... I think that's enough. There's a limit to hugging."

"Sorry..." Pearl let her arms loosen and freed Howlite from her grip. The ex-prince dusted off her armor, like it was dirty. "I see you're not the touchy type."

"I didn't think _you_ were." she replied.

Pearl glanced at the Amethyst Gem in her hand. Howlite caught that single eye movement, and realized it was intended for Amethyst. Or, maybe she wanted to hold her before there was no time for it... or before either of them got the same treatment as Amethyst, and weren't as lucky to have Steven around.

Howlite didn't subscribe to the idea of living life without regrets. Mostly because she didn't understand humans, and thought she was immortal compared to their lifespans. But now, she was leaning toward it. She might die at any moment. Either the Rebels, or Homeworld. After all, the Rebels were winning, with Jasper being taken by them. And Emerald. And maybe Onyx, if she was lying about not being on anyone's side, because Howlite thought that since Kyanite was her daughter, she would go to the Rebel side.

They were at a disadvantage now.

 _We're outnumbered,_ and _out-powered._

Howlite's eyes went over to Pearl's belt, and latched onto it was a Homeworld Gem Destabilizer.

 _...Hopefully you can do something, Pearl.  
_

* * *

After getting better about Amethyst's condition, another thought of realization struck Pearl. What about the one hundred Gems that escaped? They all must be in the Rebellion now. And that meant the Rebellion was growing. The thought dawned on Pearl, another problem on her shoulders. The white knight was bitterly walking around the halls, hoping to get her mind off of losing a hundred Gems in the prison, when something caught her eye.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded coldly, unable to hide her ferocity.

Before her, twenty Revolution Gems were huddling over seven other Gems. Pearl noticed that these seven Gems that were held down were also part of the Revolution. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at these twenty-seven Gems, wanting an explanation.

"Uh, we were... punishing these Gems for doing a poor job fighting the rebels." a brave Gem informed, pointing at the seven Gems. Pearl sighed, as the topic was now brought back to the missing one hundred Gems. The thing she wanted _not_ to hear about right now. The soldier continued, "We were only able to capture these seven—"

"Let them go." Pearl ordered.

"Huh?" the others were dumbfounded. The seven on the ground looked at Pearl with awe in their eyes, looking at her as some kind of angry angel sent from heaven.

On Homeworld, they were used to being punished greatly for not being able to do their tasks well. With the exception of the war, because everyone was too busy to punish someone. But when something petty like doing guard work was done disappointingly, the Gems who did the work were shattered and replaced with better Gems. These twenty Gems didn't realize they were on Earth now, and Homeworld customs weren't used here. Though, Pearl was sure they weren't going to shatter them. With twenty Gems, one of them was bound to be smart enough to realize that Gems were limited and aren't expendable.

"You heard me," Pearl told them. "Let them go. They did nothing wrong."

"But... they weren't adequate enough for their job."

"They had to fight one of the greatest Gems in the galaxy." Pearl said, referring to Steven, with his Gem being Rose Quartz and all. "They were bound to fail anyway. If you were in their place, I'm sure the conclusion would've been the same. You would've failed."

That created a question from one Gem. "What if you were there? I'm pretty sure you would've gotten the job done. I mean, they were only three Rubies and a small Quartz."

"I wouldn't have won." Pearl answered blatantly.

She left it at that, storming off to do something to vent her anger on.

* * *

Month: March.

It's been a couple weeks since she regenerated.

Pyrite liked to take her time off in a city. There were nice people around, lots of local businesses, not a lot of tall buildings. She would sit at a cafe, breathe fresh country air, and listen to the musician playing her songs across the street. It was calm, peaceful, and it took away all thought of the ongoing war between Gems. There was a mutual break between them, it seemed, so that their forces could relax until Pearl or the Rebellion snaps.

Pyrite was in her civilian clothes, hand-picked by some of the more _artistic_ humans in the Revolution. They all made her pick something not too flamboyant, but still stylish and color coordinated. Something flattering to the eyes. It was concluded that purple and pink would complement her gold and yellow colors, so they got her a white vest jacket that had stripes of magenta. Under the white vest would be a purple shirt with the word "revolution" subtly printed diagonally across. Then a pair of white jean shorts, which showed off her legs. And to finish off, they threw in a pink scarf and a pair of high-heels. Pyrite didn't like the high-heels, but went along with it in the name of fashion.

Truly, the epitome of casual.

It did garner some attention to her table. Mostly because Pyrite looked a tad bit too expensive to even be sitting at their cafe. A few people came around, chatted with Pyrite, and were unsatisfied that they weren't able to receive any contact info from her.

The golden Gem sat idly under the shade of the umbrella, enjoying her nice day out. She leaned against the railing that parted the sidewalk from the road. There wasn't much traffic in the quiet city. A few cars went by, there was only one truck, and from Pyrite's analysis, most people went around on bikes.

It was a peaceful town, known by the locals as "Stultus es". In their history, it was named by a powerful historical figure, and the locals back then took it as a gift. The words "Stultus es" were familiar to Pyrite due to some dumb internet search she did. And if she was right, the two words ironically meant "you are stupid" in some language. She was sure it was a dead language of some sort, mostly being passed down to other languages and never being used again.

There wasn't much air travel going on for miles around the city, so when the locals heard a noise in the air, they immediately set attention to it. There was a sonic boom that ruptured the skies this time, and it came from a silver figure.

The ex-prince laid her eyes on the small city below her, and checked her "smartphone" to see if the location was correct. Her "smartphone" was a Revolution-standard computer that was small enough to be qualified as a phone. She was connected to the Gem tracking program back at the base, and her smartphone was only relaying her the details and her own location. She was only trying to track down Pyrite since she couldn't find her at the base, and was surprised to find she was three thousand miles away. How did Pyrite even _find_ these places?

The golden Gem looked up from her seat and was annoyed to see Howlite. Pyrite thought that since Howlite had been coming onto Pearl and that black Pearl (she thought Howlite had a thing for pearls), she had time to be alone. That wasn't the case.

It wasn't that she was angry at Howlite. Pyrite just gets reminded of all the fighting, because she's always with her anytime that happens. And by growing distant to Howlite with exploring Earth alone, Pyrite's gotten more attached to the peaceful cities the world had to offer. And by then, it had become her guilty pleasure. She started to like not having Howlite around. She could see why Howlite wanted to be alone the first time she met her. In hindsight, it seemed like Pyrite was intruding in her alone time. And now it was the opposite.

"What the heck are you doing out _here_?" Pyrite demanded loudly, getting Howlite's attention. The silver Gem floated over to where Pyrite was, and was separated by the railing once she got near.

Howlite hesitated to respond, and retorted with, "What are you... _wearing_?"

Howlite eyed the golden powerhouse up and down twice, trying to understand what was going on with her. She sighed, thinking it was another trendy style of clothing. However, if she were honest, Pyrite looked really nice in that attire. And her attention was successfully averted to her butter-colored legs.

 _Wow. She looks..._ Howlite's scandalous thoughts were interrupted by the voice of her partner.

" _Me_?" Pyrite raised a brow. "Why I'm being _fabulous_ ," she said as she subtly posed, "as always."

"You look nothing like a warrior." Howlite stated, her eyes still glued to the lower half of Pyrite. She mentally slapped herself across the face for being a pervert, and went back to looking at Pyrite in the eyes. But that was hard to do for some reason. Maybe because that meant Howlite had to show _her_ face, and she knew for a fact that her cheeks were getting hotter. And that would present weakness to Pyrite, and she'll make fun of her.

"That's the point," said Pyrite. "It's not like we have to fight something every day. There are breaks."

Howlite was grateful there was no focus on her face, and that they were equally serious about their discussion. Or at least, Howlite's depiction of Pyrite's seriousness.

"I know that, but... It's war times." she said, shifting her balance to one foot. "What if there's an attack? You wouldn't be prepared. And human clothes are fragile. One hit, and they'll be torn to pieces."

"You're concerned about my clothes getting destroyed?" Pyrite inquired, eyes half-open.

Howlite had no response to that.

"Only humans would be concerned about that. I could just shapeshift new clothes on in no time, if these things get torn." Pyrite explained, then pointed to her feet. "I'm _more_ worried about the high-heels I'm wearing. These are impossible. And I hear they damage people's feet. Why do humans wear these?"

Howlite opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

And, like all other times, she was saved by the bell. Her smartphone rang an annoying tune and showed a notification needing her help. Pyrite pulled her own device out of her pocket, and had the same alarm beeping at her. Turning away, Howlite wiped the nonexistent sweat off her forehead, while checking her smartphone on what was going on. What she saw made her face pale.

"Holy _fireballs_." Pyrite suddenly said.

Howlite had the same response, but not as comical as Pyrite's. The notification she got showed a giant corrupted beast, breathing blue fire, just seven hundred miles away from their location. Howlite and Pyrite glanced at each other.

"Well," Pyrite kicked her high-heels off. "Guess I'm going to have to fight. _Again_."

"You're going to need a ride there." Howlite stated.

"No duh." Pyrite replied, holding out her hand. "How long do you think it would take for you to get there?"

Howlite slowly took the golden Gem's hand in hers, ignoring that they were in physical contact since it's happened every other time, and calculated the time in her head. "I think it's gonna take half an hour."

The silver Gem picked up in altitude, then zoomed through the skies, breaking the sound barrier in a matter of minutes.

* * *

Location: Lutetia.

As a fusion, Jelly Opal was mostly picked to do heavy-lifting tasks. Then, simultaneously get stares from the other Gems. But today, that was different.

The story of her unusual name came from the fact that Pearl didn't want any confusion from other Opals. When trying to differentiate her from other potential Opals, Pearl said that she resembled something of what's called a jelly opal on Earth. Her gemstone was a sheen indigo, and looked... _gelatinous_. Thus, Pearl called _and_ documented her Jelly Opal. And that's how people called her Jelly. Or sometimes, _Jerry_ , for those who wanted to humanize her and thought that would be a good way of settling things. She liked to be called Jelly more, because _that's_ the one Pearl chose, _and_ the one Jelly Opal grew with.

Jelly was the one to start the persuasion of her Rebellion group to side over the Revolution that one time several months ago... Except, only thirty-five did join the Revolution. The other thirty-five... Thirty of them stood for themselves and the other five just didn't want to fight. Jelly was saddened that those five non-fighters also escaped the Revolution last month.

Now, she was in _Lutetia_ , the capital of _Franke_ , tasked with a few others to stop a bronze, three-headed, corrupted, Gem-dragon.

A bronze-plated, corrupted- _dragon-_ Gem, with _three_ heads.

She heard rumors from her teammates that this was the same corrupted Gem that was held deep within the prison facility in the Revolution. How it escaped didn't make any sense, since it made it out of its cell without even marking a scratch.

As usual, it breathed fire, like regular fairy tale dragons. However, it only erupted its blue flames from one of its giant, long-necked, heads. Its gargantuan jaws would swallow Jelly up, if it weren't for her nimbleness. Its wings were big enough to cover a whole football field by its length. Its body was heavy enough to crush ten trucks stacked atop each other. It had four limbs, ending with sharp, 2-meter-long claws. And a twenty-meter-long tail that swayed behind its backside, removing clouds from the sky. The dragon's eyes, all three pairs, were huge vermilion orbs with black slits for pupils.

Jelly once shot an arrow at its eye, and it was the best shot the Revolution had on it so far. It was its only weakness that they knew of. Its bronze-plated skin was tough... no, not _tough_ , it was practically _indestructible_. They made no damage on its skin. Any projectile or weapon bounced right off.

 _The dragon is in-flight all the time,_ Jelly thought, as she leaped from building to building. _That would be better than being unable to fly, because_ it _would do a lot of damage on the ground. All of those people down there,_ dead _._

The city was still being evacuated, with human Revolution solders trying their best to contain the chaos in the streets. Jelly was glad she didn't have to do any _crowd control_. That would be a nightmare.

The dra-Gem blew blue fire through one of its three heads, gushing it out of its mouth like a fire hose. Anything caught in its cerulean flames would be burned to a crisp with its fifteen hundred degrees Celsius temperature. The fused archer soon realized that the fire-breathing came from only one of the dragon's heads. The one on the left. The other two heads had yet to show any special properties. It would be best to be cautious about them.

"Report!" Jelly yelled in her intercom, as she ran across the roof of an apartment building.

 _"We're not doing so well..."_ was the reply of a _very_ ambitious pearl who wanted to support the Revolution leader Pearl. She was named Orient. _"We can't make a dent on it. And it's tearing up the city with its fire! I think a total of..._ seven _buildings, which are hundred-floor ones, have their roofs destroyed."_

 _"There are many wounded,"_ another one said, a jasper soldier. She's called Chilli. _"It's skin is as tough as the Diamonds. Can't seem to make a dent on it. It's safe to assume their only weak spots are their eyes... and maybe the insides of their mouths, if you can endure the fires."_

Jelly clicked her tongue against her teeth. "So... When is backup?"

 _"Our best bet is arriving at twenty minutes. It's Howlite and Pyrite."_ the pearl, Orient, said.

"We're saved." Jelly said, then sighed, "If we can even survive that long..."

Jelly Opal pulled her light arrows from nothingness, and nocked one into her bow, aiming at the Corrupted Gem. The dragon's back was turned to her, wings moving slow but powerful, its tail smashing against the side of buildings. Jelly released an arrow, only meant to gather the dragon's attention. It whizzed past buildings and let out an explosion on its copper-colored back. The dragon turned one of its long necks, and revealed the middle head to Jelly's direction. The archer pulled the bowstring quick and shot a powerful arrow, made with half her energy to penetrate through the eyeball and rest in the brain... and explode.

The dragon's eyes lit up with blue and a beam of light painted the air, freezing the deadly arrow in its aerial position. The only thing the archer could see was white. Jelly was promptly hit by the ice-colored light, and felt as if she got attacked by a giant sub-zero snowball. She was stuck to the wall of the building she stood against, with ice glazing only the diameter of the dragon's eye lasers.

 _Oh,_ she thought. _So that's what it is._

The light indigo fusion was spared from further light, and the dragon moved its head back to its target, which was a skyscraper. Its left head was burning everything in it, slowly melting its metal.

Jelly felt so cold she thought her limbs would fall off. She pulled her two arms and hugged her chest, trying to get some more momentum into getting herself unstuck from the building. She pushed herself off the wall, fell a few storeys, and saved herself by grabbing onto a passing ledge with her hand.

She contacted her intercom. "Did you see what the middle head did?"

 _"It can shoot lasers out of its eyes!"_ Orient exclaimed.

 _"And freeze things,"_ a different jasper, named Horus, added.

"Watch out for the third one..." Jelly said, before she realized something about Howlite and Pyrite. "Wait, why do Pyrite and Howlite take twenty minutes to get here? Can't they use the Warp Pad?"

 _"Well, they're flying together,"_ the jasper soldier, Chilli, said, _"So I don't think they have their head in the game."_

"Figures. I should've known." Jelly replied. "What have you been doing?"

There was no response over the radio.

Almost immediately, there was an orange figure that leaped from a building and onto the dragon's back. She crawled all the way to one of its necks, before the middle one noticed and blasted her with its laser ice.

 _"Failing."_

"It counts as work," Jelly replied. "It will be in your reports."

There was a collective sigh in the intercom.

 _"Ugh, don't talk about reports."_ Horus grunted.

 _Damn it, said the wrong thing,_ Jelly thought. _Keep it together, be cool and relatable, then you can have friends._ Then another side of her mind told her, _Wrong time to be thinking of this stuff._ Which, she responded to with, _Right. The dragon. Focus on it._ _What could the third head possibly have?_

Jelly heaved herself up on the ledge, before running again to leap to another building. She needed to get a better angle for her shots against this Corrupted Gem beast.

The archer drew her bow again as she zipped across the rooftops, pointing her arrow at the dragon. She instead targeted the sky and fired a distraction shot, which split into multiple arrows, which then split into smaller arrows. The arrows grew in number, turning from tens to hundreds, and finally, _thousands_ of tiny energy pellets, which rained the skies and struck the mighty dragon. The corrupted beast roared, the first head letting loose a wider spray of fire.

Jelly Opal slid across a building with the side of her legs, and fired an arrow at the dragon. The first head had only one working eye, since Jelly shot the other eye beforehand. This new arrow flew straight into the only eye the fire-breathing head had, causing blindness to it. The dragon head howled in pain and started shooting, wave after wave, of devastating blue fire breaths. It wasn't a clear sight, since the skies were also of a clear blue day. Jelly nocked another arrow into her bow, but suddenly froze.

 _Freezing lasers._ Jelly reminded herself.

She was then blown away by blue fire for a moment, but was protected by the layer of ice around her. With the effects of the laser ice vaporized, Jelly set her eyes on the dragon, and watched as the fire-breather continuously ravaged the place by squirming around in pain, like it was actually blind. Jelly thought that with three heads, you'd be more than likely to still be able to see with the other two. But no... this wasn't the case for this corrupted Gem. It was as if each head was independent from each other. Like... a _fusion_.

 _Could it be?_ Jelly thought, her blood running cold, not because of the ice, but because of the mere thought of a corrupted fusion. She shook it off, steeling herself, and reminded herself that Amber was gone. There was nothing to replicate the corruption phase. She brought her focus back to the battlefield. _A corrupted fusion, with three Gems. One could breathe fire, one could shoot freezing lasers out of their eyes, and the last one... still unknown. But it has to be in the boundaries of Gem abilities. Huh, thinking about it now, I don't think there even_ are _limits to what abilities different Gems could have._

 _"The third one!"_ someone shouted over the intercom. _"I know a way to find out what it can do!"_

 _If the third one is actually lethal to Gems, and if we activate it, there would be no going back._ The sensible side of her said. "I think we're better off _not_ knowing!" Jelly replied urgently into the radio.

 _"Chilli just went!"_ Orient exclaimed.

Jelly Opal hurried over to the edge of the rooftop, and scanned the place around the dragon for the jasper. She nocked an arrow into her bow and aimed it at the eye-laser head, hopefully using this time to incapacitate its eye.

When she shot it, she remembered the dragon could freeze it with her eyes, and now thought how stupid the idea was. There must be a way of defeating that head without targeting its eyes.

 _"Thanks for distracting the second head for me."_ Chilli said over the radio.

"Chilli! Stop doing what you're doing!" Jelly yelled. She saw the fire-breather point its mouth her way, and she jumped for it, going over the edge and falling thirty floors. She landed on the pavement with a roll, creating a crater an inch deep. The opal ran, looking up at the belly of the beast. It seemed to be getting closer to the ground, but that was her own perception getting messed with its rhythmic beat of the wings.

The fused archer met up with Orient; a pink-colored Pearl in a contrasting dark suit, holding a human weapon. It was a ranged one, long and heavy, and had a scope on it. They jogged towards each other, thinking it would be better to stay together.

"That's a sniper rifle," Jelly informed, trying to act smart from the knowledge she gained throughout the months. "Did it have any effect?"

"Uh... no." Orient replied, holding the gun stiffly. "You did all the work."

"What's Chilli's plan?" Jelly asked, while trying to gauge how much stamina she had left.

"Aggravate the third head until it loses its temper and unleashes its power." Orient answered. Jelly inwardly cursed as she was at a third of her reserves. She used half for that piercing arrow and it failed, and the rest for the other arrows she had fired so far.

"You think she'll be able to do it?" the archer asked, creating an arrow into existence and nocking it in place, just in case.

Orient glanced at Jelly's weapon, and decided to carry hers at a more ready position. "...no."

 _"I'm doing it. The third head's looking angry."_ Chilli informed. _"I think it's about to blow..."_

Jelly sighed. "Chilli—"

 _"If you're going to tell her to stop..."_ Horus' voice trailed away. _"Too late."_

The opal and the pearl both turned their heads up at the three-headed dragon. There was a wispy green aura that was forming around the third head like a hula hoop. It grew more rapid and in number, making the sky turn dark which made the leaf-green glow more prominent. It seemed to be charging up for something... but what?

"Oh, stars..." Orient said, as her eyes were focused on the debris that was floating off the ground and flying straight into the orbit of the third dragon head. The Gems weren't affected by gravity, but everything else was.

Fire hydrants, street lamps, telephone booths, entire roofs, and the ash from the fire-breather... they were all circling around the dragon's body, as if it was the sun and they were its celestial bodies. Things were getting attracted to the air around the dragon, but it didn't make sense because that wasn't how gravity worked. It was even less like a magnet, as it didn't have any poles or that the objects it was getting wasn't all magnetic. The orbiting trash was acting as if it was a second skin of shield. It would be harder to bypass through all the stuff gravitating around the beast, and Jelly wasn't pleased that she couldn't get a clear shot on it.

 _"What the hell... Gems can do that?"_ Chilli asked.

The air was growing thinner with every second, most of it getting sucked around the dragon. The dragon was flying upwards, on terms with the third head, and dragged everything with it. The corrupted beast didn't even care about crashing into debris, since its skin was impenetrable. Still, the first head was rampantly breathing fire, still not understanding that it was blinded. And with the denser air, its blue fires were growing wild and erratic. The middle head couldn't do anything, even if it tried. Anything it would do would be outright useless.

"We need to think of something. It's damaging _everything_ around it." Jelly stated, firing a practice shot, which just zipped into the dragon's orbit and circled around. Gravity did _not_ work like that.

"If everything just zips around the dragon, and doesn't stick to it. Then it's not gravity, and it's certainly not magnetic either." Orient informed.

Jelly was listening intently, hoping to get a strategy from Orient. "Yeah, _and_?"

"I don't know. All I know is that's not gravity."

"I've _already_ reached that same conclusion a few moments before." Jelly stated.

"Maybe it's magic." Orient pulled out her handheld device, and saw that their backup had arrived. "Or maybe Howlite and Pyrite could fix the situation."

* * *

"What the hell is that."

Pyrite and Howlite could see the three-headed, bronze dragon, flying around with rubbish swirling around it, and blue fire coming out of the left head, and green wispy aura coming from the right head. It melted eight buildings and froze three. The pair had a good idea of how dangerous and powerful this corrupted Gem was. It even answered their question of how it escaped the Revolution base... but it raised more questions for Howlite on how it was able to escape _without even a scratch on anything_.

"We need to work quickly," Howlite informed. "It could thrash the whole city in no time."

"Yeah... it's _horrifying_." Pyrite quickly replied, her hold on Howlite tightening. They were in the air, so Pyrite had to count on Howlite for the flying. "It's a dragon that has _three_ heads. And it's a _corrupted_ Gem. It's a _monstrosity_!" Howlite glanced at Pyrite, thinking about how insensitive that comment was. "One head's breathing blue fire. And if it could do that, the other ones could also do the same! And its entire body is making stuff circle around it like a protective barrier! It's a disaster!"

"Hm..." Howlite had a feeling that wasn't all. She let go of Pyrite's one hand to take out her phone and call for a report on the beast. The golden Gem immediately grappled onto Howlite's free arm, pulling on her and yanking her down. Howlite gritted her teeth, as she held the phone up. "To anyone who's fought this beast... could I get a report?"

There was a static chatter on the feed.

Then, a voice.

 _"Yeah, it's bronze skin is impenetrable. You can't break through it. We've tried."_ Pyrite heard and took that as a challenge. She was pretty sure she could break through its defenses. _"All we can do is target the eyes... And the three heads have different abilities!"_

Howlite's eyes narrowed at the Corrupted Gem. "That's important."

 _"The left head could breathe fire. The middle one shoots lasers out of its eyes that freezes things! And the last one, it can manipulate... no, not manipulate... create an orbit around itself. It's picked up all the debris its made and some other stuff, like a second protective barrier. I don't see why it needs one. It's perfectly fine with its impenetrable skin."_

"Then that means the dragon could think. It's defending itself." Howlite said. "We should leave it alone... it won't target us if it's just defending itself." She glanced at the flying beast, watching it gush blue fire rampantly. It was damaging the atmosphere even more with the smoke. "Or we can't. We'll have to get through its orbit and attack it from the eyes, I guess..."

The three-headed dragon started floating over to an already charred building, and flung its second layer of defense at a building, pelting it with materials like an automatic rifle. It seemed to be firing at something, trying to shoot at a target.

 _"Alright, that's not how gravity works..."_ the speaker on the phone said.

"It can create an orbit... and redirect whatever it picked up..." Howlite stated, pondering the ability. "Maybe it's... like... _Onyx_? It has telekinesis?"

"Just toss me over there and I'll pummel it into the ground." Pyrite informed, fist pumping the air with her free hand. Since the other hand was tightly holding on to Howlite.

 _"No! The dragon has too much mass. You'll destroy the streets!"_ Jelly's voice said.

Pyrite rolled her eyes, even though it couldn't be seen through the phone. "I wasn't being literal. It was just a... uh..."

"...A metaphor." Howlite finished for her.

"Yeah."

"I'm not going with that idea anyway." Howlite replied, holding her phone closer. "We're meeting up. We'll make a battle plan for this." she sighed, wishing Pearl were here to do it instead of her. She was bad at making plans and if she had any tactical ones, they would be as simple as it gets.

Howlite followed her phone's tracking device and met up with two Gems. One was a fit blue opal fusion. And the other was a pink petite pearl. The silver Gem dropped Pyrite off and landed next to them.

"What are you wearing?" Jelly asked, her eyes scanning the colorful clothing.

"It's what the humans call clothes." Orient informed, glancing at Jelly.

"It's fashion." Pyrite said.

Howlite's eyes were set on the pink pearl that was among them. She was the first Gem Howlite noticed, and certainly one that caught her attention. Mostly because she hadn't expected another pearl, except for Revolution/Crystal Pearl and Black Pearl, to be in dangerous territory.

"A pearl?" the silver Gem asked.

"Yes." Orient answered proudly.

"On the battleground?" Howlite inquired, not intending it to be condescending.

The pink pearl narrowed her eyes at the silver Gem. "... _Yes_."

Pyrite coughed into a fist, turning back so only Howlite could hear her words. "...and you call _me_ insensitive," she coughed again, hiding any evidence of her talking. "...bet the next thing you're gonna say was about the opal..."

Howlite crossed her arms, ignoring Pyrite's teases. She focused on the bigger of the three; the fusion. "Alright, do you have any plans to beat that dragon?"

"I already told you all I know." the indigo archer told her.

Howlite grunted, swerving away from them. "Alright... we'll have to get rid of its barrier first."

Meanwhile, Pyrite focused on the dragon flying overhead, its shadows casting over them for a moment. Then it left, letting rays of light shine on them. Pieces of junk were hurled at their way, but it was only ones with small mass, like a crumpled soda can or a tattered newspaper. All things broken.

Memories of Beach City and Rose's Fountain haunted her. Both those events happened a month ago, but she could remember them like yesterday. She still hadn't gotten over Emerald and Jasper. They knew her, and she didn't know them. Her sheer power wasn't enough to win her a victory, even if Jasper had used a cheat weapon on her, she still should've been able to beat her if she hadn't wasted any time. If this dragon won't let her win... it would be the third time in a row. The Universe would be telling her a message at that point. And that message was, "You have no power here."

Jasper called her an abomination. Emerald intimately knew something about her. And Pyrite knew something about herself too. She was a _weapon_. Her mind was designed for battle. Her own gemstone was created artificially to handle Gems. She had explained this to Howlite, and nothing about that has changed. Except for the fact that she's finally trying to remember what she'd forgotten.

The golden Gem reverted her focus back on the three Gems, who were discussing a battle plan. She should be listening.

"...be able to score a hit in." Howlite stated. "Then the corrupted Gem wouldn't have anything else to pick up and we could fling it off into space. It's fire breath would do nothing since it can't create enough of the _force_ energy to propel itself back, nor would there be enough oxygen to work with. The eye lasers wouldn't do it good either, since space is already pretty cold." She pointed at the two subordinates. "Got it? Get a vantage point. You have long-ranged weaponry. Take your chances."

Jelly snapped her bow's string on the end and used the entire weapon as a grappling hook. She hailed her crescent hook up a rooftop and pulled herself towards it with a tug of the magical, leftover bow string. The fusion zipped her way across the buildings, getting to a higher vantage point. As for Orient, she started jogging away.

Just as Howlite was about to hover away, Pyrite grabbed her by the wrist.

"Wait... _I_... wasn't listening," the golden Gem informed.

The ex-prince lingered on for a while, contemplating Pyrite's touch, before saying, "Basically, I'm going to do everything. You... just gather as much power as you can _possibly_ get. Wait until something goes wrong."

Pyrite let go of her wrist and Howlite flew for the dragon. The golden Gem watched her make a beeline straight for the dragon, firing energy blasts all over its barrier. Pyrite wondered what made her linger, before looking at her hand. Was she too stiff? Was she _that_ tense? Was she _this_ scared of losing?

* * *

 _Alright... This theory of mine better work.  
_

Howlite zipped above the dragon's barrier and sent energy flares down onto those flying chunks of debris. Her attacks exploded upon impact of the barrier, attaining the attention of the corrupted beast, who swerved its weight around to turn to Howlite. However, she was too quick for the dragon, as she had already evaded the fire breathing head that the other two heads tried to pull towards her. Its slow-moving wings were also a reason to its slow flight. The silver Gem noticed this, and moved to its flank, where she drove an energy beam through the second barrier, disintegrating the materials. But, her energy just bounced right off the bronze plates of its skin.

Still, she went straight for the opening and landed in between its first and second layers of defense.

 _I've been improving on my energy manipulation to test out my theory, but first... just a little bit of fun. The appetizer to the main dish._

Howlite had practiced manipulating her energy for the past month, and got the most ridiculous levels of improvement. Her own energy was her weapon, just like how Pearl's weapon was a spear and Amethyst's was a whip. It was even made of the same substance. So, she manifested her energy out, shaping it into a giant appendage, and whipped it around one of the dragon's thick necks. Her own bright energy was able to duplicate Amethyst's weapon, except for the colors and solidity. Howlite tugged, and the fire breathing head roared in pain, making her wince in sympathy.

Howlite murmured, "I can be sensitive."

She looked back at the dragon, and remembered the massive scale difference between them. She was half Jelly Opal's size, so it seemed much bigger to her than it seemed to the fusion. She steeled herself and doubled her efforts, turning back and flying off.

She stopped, finding her hold on her energy whip yanked back. Turning herself to the dragon, she saw that her whip was at its limit and wasn't budging, like pulling a rope tied around a tree.

The third head, the one with the wispy aura around it, narrowed its eyes at Howlite. Then, objects that made up the second barrier started making a beeline for her.

"HAHH!" Howlite shouted, letting out an explosive wave of energy from her entire form. The pulse of energy acted like a shock wave, also eradicating the scattered pieces of building launched at her. She destroyed a twenty meter radius of rubbish around the dragon. "Not making any progress on defeating it. Except, removing a portion of its barrier..." She grinned. "...and putting its focus on me."

Just then, an arrow zipped by and struck the third dragon head in the left eye.

The dragon howled, its hold on its second barrier worsening. The middle head's eyes glowed, and shot beams of light at Howlite. The silver Gem reacted instantaneously, retaliating with an energy blast. But it didn't slow down the bright beams. Not at all.

 _What?! It didn't—_

The ray of ice struck Howlite head-on, freezing her over.

 _I forgot! They're ice lasers! Not..._

Howlite struggled to move, but she kept slowing down. She became a statue of ice. The middle dragon roared proudly at the air. The silver Gem cursed as shame begun to envelope her.

 _Wait... This is good for me. It thinks it's beaten me._ Howlite thought. _I could catch it by surprise... Hopefully the law of conservation of energy still stands... If Amethyst could grow big, then I can grow in power.  
_

* * *

Promenade City...

A lone girl watched the news of the corrupted Gem monster on the television, and paced around her room. She sighed, turning her head away and flopped onto her bed, limbs spread across. Blowing the hair out of face, she sat up and contemplated at the television. Live footage of the current Gem event was playing, showing the three-headed dragon terrorizing the city called _Lutetia_. She watched it for a little while longer, before firmly making a decision.

She glanced at the pink sword at the corner of her room.

* * *

The Amedot Ship in the Revolution...

Pearl furiously whacked a wrench onto a workshop table, finishing her work. She crossed her arms, sighed, and bowed her head down. For the past month, she focused on creating this machine to rival Onyx and defeat other Gems. She basically made what Lapis asked Peridot to create a year ago. She made a killing machine.

She would have to test this new machine of hers... But not today.

Someday, this bulky android will show its capabilities. It _will_ take down Onyx. Said Gem had telepathy, which would be useless against a robot, since they had no minds to read or manipulate. Pearl knew that Onyx's telepathic manipulations were temporary if left unchecked, which was why the most powerful Gem in the world didn't bring herself to stop this war as her input would be useless. Then, there was her telekinesis. That would be a bother, if Pearl hadn't already figured out the secret to the Gem Destabilizer. With the new energy formula, the android should be able to prevent Onyx's telekinesis on itself.

Now, however, it was a different case. She had to figure out what's going on with that corrupted dragon, and _how it escaped_.

The white knight had vented all her anger on creating a weapon. Now with that _giant_ setback, there's more fuel to her burning soul. Lapis wasn't enough. She was only a fraction of the problem. But it was a major one that lifted a weight off her shoulders. That ocean Gem had the ability to turn the tides of battle. Pearl was lucky enough to ensnare her when she had the chance.

 _Damn it, you're thinking of_ her _again._

Something didn't sit well inside Pearl about Lapis.

Her gauntlet was placed on a tabletop, projecting a hologram that showed video footage of the corrupted Gem and soft copy documents of it. There was also surveillance footage of Lapis Lazuli in her personal cage, but that was pushed behind other ongoing documents. From what Pearl had remembered, the corrupted dragon was only twenty feet long, not... _a hundred and sixty_ feet long. It got _immensely_ bigger, somehow.

"And it did get bigger!" a proud voice pierced the silence, putting Pearl on the edge.

Pearl swerved around, picking up the wrench, and violently hurtling it at the intruder. She knew it couldn't be one of her own, because that voice belonged to...

 _Aquamarine_ pointed at the flying wrench with her index finger, intending to stop it by just pointing. And stop, it did.

"The dragon _did_ get bigger." Aquamarine informed, as she grinned maniacally. "I couldn't resist." She expected to see surprise on Pearl's face, and the loud demands of "who are you and how did you get in here?" But she was not treated to this, as the Pearl didn't ask her about that, and instead...

"You made it... _grow_?" Pearl inquired, taking up a battle-ready stance. The Homeworld Gem Destabilizer was hanging right on her belt, and her pale hand was hovering above it. Any suspicious movement from the opponent, and she'll resort to it.

Aquamarine noticed one of the only things in the Universe able to defeat her, and withdrew her smile. And the fact that Pearl didn't do as she thought made her unsatisfied. Pearl was one surprise after another.

"Yeah, _magic_ ," Aquamarine said, frowning, as she let her hand do some kind of sprinkling motion as she said the word _magic_. She regained confidence in her abilities, and chalked up her previous injury with Lapis as underestimation. "How else are you going to explain a giant dragon escaping your prison? _Magic_!"

In an instant, Pearl pulled out the Gem Destabilizer baton and flung herself at Aquamarine. The magician retaliated, pushing her arm out for Pearl's wrist. It didn't occur to her that Pearl's legs were aimed for her torso, and before the deadly baton hit, something else struck the air out of Aqua's lungs.

BAM! Aquamarine skidded across the ground as Pearl's new skateboard.

The magician resorted to a way of getting Pearl's attention from poofing her. She gurgled out, "Homeworld is coming."

The weapon flared an amber hue, stopping inches from Aquamarine's yellow-lit face.

The sight of Pearl's icy glare replaced the tip of the baton, and Aquamarine inwardly smiled as she caught the knight's attention. Her wand, Quarain, was hiding under the wrists of her suit jacket. Pearl felt off that the Aquamarine didn't have a weapon, before planting her foot and knee on her forearms. She unknowingly jammed Aquamarine's main offense.

"What do you know about Homeworld?" the white knight inquired eloquently.

"That you're going to die when they come. When Yellow Diamond sets foot on this planet again, there is no escape. Not when the Earth is in shambles as it is." Aquamarine said, "Unless... everyone on this planet stops fighting among themselves, and unite, then you may have a chance."

Pearl waited for anything she didn't already know.

"I can tell you where the Rebellion is, for a _trade_ ," Aquamarine informed, eliciting interest in Pearl's turquoise eyes. "They're currently residing in the inverted pyramid. You know what that is, right?"

"You're a novice at this trade thing, I presume." Pearl's voice was cold. "You sold out the only thing you were valuable for."

She touched Aquamarine's face with the Gem Destabilizer, and... It didn't work.

"Oh, Pearl, it seems we've never met." She said, starting to fade away. Her voice stilled stayed, echoing in the room. "I should introduce myself, I'm Aquamarine, a _magician_. I can create _illusions_."

Pearl responded with a hearty scoff. She got off the illusion and turned around to face the _real_ Aquamarine.

"You don't seem at all surprised," Aquamarine stated, her face becoming solemn again.

"I've read about you. You're a dangerous one." she replied. _Which is why I resorted to finishing you off, before you surprised me._

Aquamarine didn't like it when Pearl specified her as _"a dangerous one"_. It made her sound as if her case wasn't unique, as if she similar to the _other_ "dangerous ones", which she was not.

"I'll give you the first trade for free." Aquamarine said, recomposing herself. "But the next time you want a trade of anything, I'll want something in return."

"Don't expect anything from me." Pearl's finger pressed a silent button on her wrist, and the machine she was working on stirred to life. Its bulk didn't make a sound, just in case of a plan that involved stealth, and started to creep behind Aquamarine. "I don't need your help."

"Oh, but I told you about the Accords Rebellion's whereabouts, did I not?" Aquamarine asked, raising her hands up in a showman's way. Her wand sprang into her hand. "I'll see you next time, Pearl—"

A slick, black metal blade struck Aquamarine through the chest.

"— _CKK_!" Aquamarine garbled, as silver started to soak her three-piece suit. She pulled herself off the metal and turned, her eyes landing upon a seven foot tall hunk of metal.

Pearl used the magician's shock to her advantage and made a quick dash for her, only for Aquamarine to raise her wand and quickly disappear out of her sight. She swung at the afterimage of the magician, only for it to hit air. And Pearl was left alone in the workshop again.

* * *

Location: Lutetia.

Howlite had been thinking of a new theory. Well, it wasn't exactly new. The idea came around two months ago, from _Amethyst_ of all Gems, and the silver Gem was hoping to replicate it. However, her way of using this technique was going to be more _refined_ , more _concentrated_ ; _denser_. What Amethyst had accomplished during the _Battle at Rose's Fountain_ was extraordinary. But that's not what Howlite was aiming for. She wasn't aiming to become big, she was aiming to become powerful. Amethyst opened her eyes to the possibilities... The limitless potential of Gemkind! All that energy, thousands of times more powerful than her former self, in one big go.

Before the transformation Amethyst had gone through, she was able to regenerate in a couple of hours, minutes even! Now though, she'd been taking _long_ strides of time to regenerate. Howlite concluded that whatever well of power Amethyst had found, it came with the price of the time it took to regenerate. Of course, the law of energy conservation states that energy cannot be created, it was transferred through a change of state. All that energy Amethyst had gotten when she became a giant came from all the objects she had eaten throughout the millennia.

 _"Howlite!"_ Orient screamed into the intercom.

In response, Jelly muttered something, but it was unheard.

The silver Gem concentrated on the energy in her forearm, where her gemstone rests. Amplifying her energy would be tricky, since she had only seen Amethyst do it once when she became a thousand times larger two months back. But if someone like Amethyst could do it, then _hell_ , so should she.

 _I'm supposed to be a copy of a Diamond, and Amethyst is... no offense... deformed._ Howlite mused. _If she can do it on a whim, then so can I! I can tap into that world of power!_

There was no input from Pyrite yet. Howlite felt disappointed that Pyrite had no words to say about her. Either Pyrite knew that the ex-prince was okay, or she flat out didn't care. And if it was the latter... then the thought of it made Howlite's blood boil. How could she not care about her?! Sure, she may have been harsh and cold towards her, apathetic even, but that still didn't mean they had to be heartless towards each other. Maybe Howlite was rubbing off on her.

 _Yeah, I should stop being a dick and learn more about... emotions._ Howlite remarked inwardly. _But for now... I have to... Explode! Think big. Think of release! Think of space, endless, boundless! Think of..._

 _"Hey, Howlite..."_ Pyrite's voice murmured into the intercom. _"You better do something before I steal your limelight."_

 _Wow, Pyrite... Pyrite. Wait..._ Howlite mused, closing her eyes. _She's the_ _key to power for our fusion; Hypr. She drives the feeling of power. And I know... there's unlimited power deep within her._

She shouldn't have. Howlite couldn't help herself. It always came back to her.

When she was Hypr... there was that feeling... of being weightless... in a state of balance. She imagined something. There was a swirling cesspool of power... untapped... but murky and dark. It was tempting to just jump into that void. But as she got closer, she could feel herself ripping apart, piece by piece, through the power boiling inside of her veins. It could make her go crazy and destroy _everything_.

Howlite stood at the edge of this realm. Her realm. Not Pyrite's. But _her_ _own_ swirling cesspool of power. It was pure. It had a void.

 _Power_ was calling to her.

Its voice was calmingly sad, like the sound of rain, wanting to be held. Howlite couldn't believe it. She found it. It was all going so quickly. She couldn't think before doing what she did.

She reached out to the sound in her Gem.

* * *

There came a heavy static in the surrounding air.

Jelly, Orient and Pyrite, though all three were on different places, could feel the same thing. The air felt fluffy, it smelled like copper, and what they were seeing was distorted due to immense heat and air pressure. On the three-headed dragon's back, there was a blinding light. The fire-breathing head stopped, suddenly dead quiet. The other two were intrigued by this new development.

 _Howlite?_ Were all three Gem's thoughts.

 _"Woah. What did I miss?"_ Chilli, a jasper, asked.

The nausea-inducing feeling faded.

* * *

 _I feel so much better now._

Electricity dangled around her. Howlite hovered, the ice immediately vaporizing into steam. It clouded her and made her into a silhouette for everyone, dramatically concealing her for a grand appearance. The silver Gem had an intense aura swirling around her, visibly seen as her pure metaphysical state; her soul's sheer power, being drawn out into the wind. Howlite had released her inner latent Gem energy, which was supposed to keep her in stasis while regenerating. That energy potential was unleashed for the world to see.

"I feel incredible! Like river turning into a waterfall!" Howlite marveled at her own state. She gained much more in power output, but felt herself growing weary. The high from achieving such plateau of strength was driving her awake, also making her feel weightless. "But there will be a point that I'll dry up. And... I feel, _instinctively_ , that I shouldn't linger around with this much wasted energy. It's an unhinged. I'm even giving off energy by just standing around."

Howlite's eyes darted across the body of the dragon to the middle head. Its eyes were staring straight back, clear white, a sign that it had already activated its ability. The silver Gem realized her own energy-gushing aura was countering its laser ice without her even knowing. The thought made her giddy internally.

"I had to test this out someday," she told herself. She blasted off into the air, her own energy trail lingering around still. Her aura didn't go away. Howlite pointed her index finger at the middle head. "You'll be my experiment."

Howlite's own energy blasted off like a high-pressure water gun, aiming for the middle dragon head. Its laser ice was easily overpowered with sheer energy, which spread out into a collision of light upon striking the space between its eyes. There was no explosion, just the sound of matter being eradicated without a fight.

When the light subsided, the middle head was _gone_.

Not even the bronze armor plating was enough to defend against power like that.

Howlite could feel gravity overtaking her, her energy plummeting like a stone. Her aura was starting to waver. The only thing keeping her power up was her own joy and excitement.

 _Where does all this power come from?_ She thought. _Well, I can think, the law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be changed from one state to another. Like how all the things Amethyst eats, probably from the last millennia, was transferred into the storage of energy needed to regenerate. This power came at a price. I don't think I could regenerate anymore..._

 _But if this is the case, then how does Pyrite get_ her _power? She didn't have time to eat as much as Amethyst did in the past year. She couldn't have created it, even though that's basically what she does. There's got to be an explanation. When I was fused with her, I felt an endless void of power. The deeper you go into it, the stronger you become,_ and _the crazier you get at the expense. That's why we dangled at the edge of that void, so we wouldn't go mental. But where does her energy come from? Is it coming from another dimension? That might be the case. Or maybe when she gains power, she's taking it from everything around her? Possibly._

 _Who cares about all that stuff? I have all this power. I could easily destroy the rebels at this state... Nobody can stop me. I was able to eradicated the head of that bronze dragon—armor and all—which nobody could do. I could overthrow Diamonds with this power. No, I could fulfill my purpose; become a_ Diamond _. And... yeah..._ Silver Diamond _has a nice ring to it..._

 _No. What am I thinking? I'm not going to rule the galaxy... That's absurd! It must be the power talking._

Howlite turned her attention to the dragon once again, remembering that the dragon only had two heads now. And those two heads were pointing their nose at her, the blind head in concentration and the healthy head in anger. The latter roared, rearing its head high and mouth glowing lime-green. Then, it shot back down, spreading a green energy out of its throat, which was aimed at Howlite. The superpowered Gem flew head-first into it on instinct, thinking her aura would be enough to shield her.

Except, the lime energy was a sticky liquid substance and clung to Howlite's aura. It didn't seem to vaporize upon impact, which meant it had an unusually high melting point.

 _Gah! What the—What is this!_ Howlite demanded, getting struck down by a blob of green goo. _It's not really acidic... It's just some kind of liquefied energy. But what's its purpose? Something barbaric, like primitive defense techniques for the organic beings on this planet?_

Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw a lamp post fly towards her at an astounding speed. She swerved in time, but the lamp didn't quite fly off like she expected, but it went around and hit her in the small of her back.

"Guh!" she cried, surprised. Howlite turned, and found more objects flying at her. "Is that what this disgusting goo does? It magnetizes objects towards me? Kind of like what the dragon did to create a barrier around itself, except... the objects are trying to hit me!"

A red fire hydrant made its way for her. She blasted that. Then a few rubbish bins started flying, then newspapers and the trash on the ground, then the traffic lights and leaves and sign posts.

Howlite couldn't shoot out energy where the green goo stuck to her. It was efficiently slowing down her offensive capabilities. A few aluminum cans evaded her attacks and crushed itself against her body, stabbing her with its sharp edges and squeezing her physical form to the point she would poof.

Howlite gritted her teeth in pain. _There's too many things flying at me at once. Maybe I should—_ She glanced at the dark sky above her. _—That's it! One of the plans to defeat this dragon. Getting into space! There has to be radius for "my orbit". If I can go to space, then nothing will be in my radius. Thus, I wouldn't get crushed by..._ She blasted a car door that made a beeline for her. _...all those things!  
_

The silver Gem flared her aura, and raced to the sky.

* * *

 _"I'm retreating into space because the dragon shot me with a substance that makes me pull objects towards me. As if, I have some kind of orbit that rivals the Earth's!"_ Howlite explained to her team members why she was withdrawing into space. _"I hate to say it... And I'm really mad about it... But you guys have to finish off the rest of the dragon."  
_

"That's a crazy ability," Jelly remarked. She narrowed her eyes at the dragon. "Are you sure you can't make another energy blast at it?"

 _"I'm sure."_ Howlite replied, _"Damn it! If I wasn't so caught up in my new power, I would've beaten that thing already! Instead, I'm fleeing from battle_ and _I'm already getting tired. This new power of mine has its downsides... At least, I took out the freezing head. Now you only have to take down the two other heads."  
_

"Any plans?" the fused archer asked.

 _"No. Not any that you could accomplish. Though Pyrite could be able to build enough power to destroy one of the heads."_ Howlite's voice responded through the intercom.

"And we'll have to do it fast." Orient pointed out, signalling towards the dragon. The giant winged Gem was back to destroying buildings, only this time, the telekinetic head was picking up bits and parts of the roofs, forming another material bubble around it. "It's making another barrier for itself." She turned to Pyrite. "You're our next best chance, so we need a way to get rid of that barrier, and then have you near enough to defeat both heads."

"Well, because I'm _that_ amazing." Pyrite joked under her breath, but intentionally made it loud enough for the other two to hear. "But seriously. All I can think of is having Jello here shoot me at the dragon. And then I have to take out two targets. And uh, my way of destroying that barrier is _also_ shooting me at it. There's only one of me, so I _think_ we have only one shot."

Jelly got her bow out and drew a light arrow with all her remaining energy. "I can get rid of the barrier with an arrow." She aimed for the dragon, which was flying away from their location. Its defense was getting denser with every second it came near the buildings. "And if I can shoot fast enough in between the time of it making another barrier, I can probably get you in there."

Pyrite let out a huff of air. "Then it'll be all up to me. Easy enough."

" _If_ you can _only_ take out one of the heads, you should focus on the head with the green-misty-thing around it." Orient informed, making a bunch of hand signs that meant nothing but to show chaos. "That'll take away the barrier once and for all and give _us_ a better chance at defeating this thing. _And_ , we won't have to deal with more property damage."

"It'll also put us back to square one," Jelly added, shrugging, "since the fire-breathing head is the one we've been fighting first. But, since it's blind, it's at a disadvantage. It should be considerably easier than when we first encountered it."

Orient whispered to Jelly, "It doesn't mean it'll put us back to square one if we're getting a better situation."

"Alright! We've got a plan." The golden Gem exclaimed and punched a fist into the sky. Her body glowed and transferred its energy into her fist. She turned her focus to the fusion. "Do I have to shapeshift into an arrow?"

Jelly thought about it for a moment. "Can you?"

Pyrite's physical form glowed white. Her colorful attire slipped through and landed on the ground. Her body shape swirled into an arrow, with her Gemstone as the arrow head. It promptly dropped into Jelly's hand, and the white light faded away to reveal an intricately-designed golden arrow.

"Alright, guys," the arrow spoke, "How do I look?"

Instead of answering, Jelly went to business and drew both her own light arrow and Pyrite. Her bow now had two strings, one for the light arrow and the other for Pyrite, so she could pull both at once and fire at different times. The dragon was getting farther and farther, its shield revolving and growing around it. She put a bit more energy into the arrow, causing it to brighten like the sun.

Jelly let the first arrow fly.

The projectile soared into the sky, a lone white dot gliding in a dark sky.

Jelly let go of the string, letting the second arrow free.

Pyrite let out a yell of excitement.

* * *

Concrete and literal pieces of apartments swirled around the dragon. Metal, cement and glass made up most of the fragments of material in the surrounding air. The debris ranged from as small as dust to as big as a whole garbage truck. The bigger pieces broke down into smaller pieces, and the smaller pieces came together to form a bigger piece. The green mist of energy surrounded them all.

An arrow whizzed into their defenses.

BBBAWWWMMM! A giant, thirty meter radius, sphere of energy swallowed up the debris. Another arrow flew into the hole of its defenses.

In mid-flight, Pyrite changed her form back into her real self, pulling back a fist charged with a kiloton of force. A sadistic grin made its way on her face, her eyes glowing dangerously bright. While still flying like an arrow, she headed for her first target, the telekinetic head. She charged straight for it, aiming a punch, which already made a distinct humming sound. It was the faint hum of raw, unbridled energy, growing louder with stomach-churning intensity. The air around her heated up, ablaze with a fiery light. From afar, it was a spectacle of orange light, dancing in the air. Compared to the humongous green energy swirling around, it stood out greatly, even painting nearby objects sunlight-yellow.

In the few seconds she had in the air, she targeted the telekinetic dragon head, and threw her arm out. The single movement ruptured air pressure and alerted the dragon's primal senses.

The telekinetic pulled the blind head forward in order to defend itself, putting it in Pyrite's way. The golden Gem's eyes widened in shock, her smile twitching, but continued to put on a confident demeanor a second later.

 _Hah! That was in my plan! I knew it would do something in this situation!_ Pyrite thought, as her fist connected with the fire-breathing dragon head. Her body twisted, giving her punch maximum torque. Her other fist was pulled back, the energy she saved being poured into it. _I've got my other fist ready! After I'm done with this head, I'm going after you! I'll finish this!_

Her punch sent a shock wave that made the fire-breathing dragon's bronze armor shatter. Its defensive pieces were torn out of its skin with utter force, and her fist kept driving through, the force behind it overwhelming. Pyrite went through the dragon head, effectively putting a hole through it and causing it to poof. The Gemstone for the fire-breathing head fell, bouncing off of debris, and into the streets. Then, there was _one_ head left. Pyrite hovered in the air, making her way to meet the telekinetic head, with only seconds to get there with the energy in her used fist propelling her forward.

"Get a load of this!" she shouted, flying towards the dragon with what remaining force she had left in her last punch. She arched back her other fist, which was primed with the same amount of explosive power. "I saved it up, just for _you_!"

Pyrite roared, shoving her other fist out towards the throat of the dragon.

However.

The telekinetic dragon swerved its head backwards, putting up a wall of debris between it and her. Pyrite gasped, as her fist tore through wreckage and the energy in it exploded outward prematurely.

"NOoo!" Pyrite screamed, as her fist rocketed through walls of concrete and steel, only for her to crash into the dragon's head with enough energy to _just_ crack its bronze cheek.

She had lost all her power. She thought she had it in the bag, and won, but she lost. There was no hope for her.

 _"Pyrite!"_ cried the Revolution Gems.

The golden Gem was swiftly pelted to the ground with a rain of cement, defeated.

* * *

A pink lion skidded on its four paws onto the scene, his passenger holding onto his lightly-colored fur. Connie raised the _Sword of Rebels_ out, feeling as if it were an extension of her arm. Lion moved out of the parking spot quickly, sprinting towards the center of devastation. He expertly dodged oncoming automobiles, giant puddles and floating fire hydrants. As Connie watched one mysteriously fly into the air, she felt _herself_ becoming lighter. Her eyes followed the fire hydrant, leading to a giant, bronze dragon, flying in the air, like in those fantasy books.

"Only one head?" Connie murmured, as the air temperature rose sharply. She remembered it having three. Sweat poured on her face. "Doesn't matter. Have to act quickly..." Her serious demeanor hid the giddiness in her soul, which was internally screaming, _"THAT'S AWESOME."_

Connie looked around, trying to find a way point for Lion, but the big feline already started moving on his own. Lion grunted at the dragon with half-closed eyes, expressing how he thought the dragon was too fancy and dramatic. He leaped at a building, which Connie almost thought they were gonna crash into, but Lion ran up the glass windows and bounced towards another building.

"YYeeeeeee!" Connie shrieked, grabbing Lion's man close. She hadn't been on many of Lion's serious rides, plus she had recently been out of practice. All she had done during these months without Steven was focus on school. There wasn't much physical training she could do with that.

They went higher and higher, via Lion hopping on a few flying objects. He used a few aluminum cans and a lamp post as stepping stones, and finally got to a flying apartment room. There, swirling around the air with constantly massive differences in pressure, Lion rested a bit. Connie used this time to steady her breathing, since her adrenaline activated during Lion's stroll. However, the rapid change in scenery and gravity in this ever-rotating, flying apartment made the girl a little green in the face.

She tried to focus on the task at hand, which was to defeat that dragon and to finally get herself into the game again. But now, she just wanted to reverse time and train herself back to good physical condition before this situation. The months of skipping training made her weaker. Her hand was straining by just holding the sword.

Lion shot back into action and leaped out of the apartment room, which was promptly crushed to dust. Connie figured Lion had sensed it happening beforehand. She kept her head low as the winds around them were getting harsher, with a _lot_ more items getting thrown back and forth.

Connie stole a glance at the dragon, and saw its gigantic eyes up close. They were red, but with all the green energy pouring out, they might as well be green. Its snout was like the size of a garbage trick, and it was opening up its mouth. Connie stared, observing the sharp, human-length teeth, and the void into its throat.

Lion roared, opening up a portal, just as the dragon tried to snap at them.

* * *

 _No..._ can't _... lose._

Pyrite groaned, her body in bloody shambles, embedded into the asphalt.

 _Three... The-The third time in the row... I'll be losing battles... losing motivation... losing the will to fight. My purpose..._ My purpose _._

The golden Gem felt something in her loosen. Some primal instinct, locked from long ago. Those restraints had slackened. Her core began to erupt. She remembered someone in her life, someone who had played an important part in her purpose. She can remember the faces of her targets, and the Gem she reported to... her creator. A brilliant scientist, who prides herself in experimenting with Gem coding.

 _She_ is _... It's her. It has to be her! Back in Rose's fountain! They're the same person... She created me._ _She created me, so she made me feel this way. The third-correlation rule in my head... that's all because of my creator. If I lost three times, I'll shatter myself. I can't let that feeling win... I have to beat that dragon! I'm_ not _going to shatter myself because I lost! I'm not going to decommission myself just because I lost thrice in a row! That's stupid!  
_

The yellow killer grunted as she ripped herself off the road, eyes wide and intense. Her core erupted with a burning passion, reigniting her battle spirit. She _will_ win this. She _has_ to! The programming in her Gem would kill her if she didn't. She couldn't believe just an hour ago, she was just chilling in a quiet, peaceful town.

She roared into the intercom, " _EVERYONE_! THAT THING'S MINE! DON'T GET IN MY WAY!"

* * *

"Pyrite's getting intense," Orient remarked as she held the side of her head, her communication link bursting in her ear with Pyrite's shout. "She must be really mad that she got the wrong head, even though I told her to get the other one. And besides, it's not like we can get in her way." She remembered something and glanced at the sky. "However, Howlite's in space, she couldn't have heard about her warning. If Howlite comes back and interrupts, what'll happen?"

Orient looked back at Jelly, and noticed her eyes were focused on the dragon. The pink pearl wasn't sure she heard her, since she hadn't gotten a response for the moment. And then she remembered how Jelly was a fusion of one of her kind and a quartz, and how she was nothing compared to her, so she let that conversation slide into silence. She averted her gaze from Jelly's direction and turned to the dragon.

"Beats me," the archer shrugged, surprising Orient. When she looked back at Jelly, the fusion was still focused on the dragon and not to her. "But you're wrong about your assumption on Pyrite's aim, she _did_ throw a punch at the direction of the third head." she informed, her eyes observing the bronze dragon in detail, even from far away. "And it looks like there's someone else taking on the dragon now."

Orient gave her a questioning hum with a raised eyebrow, expecting a clearer description on the newcomer. "A Gem? Well, of course. Has to be. One of the Rebellion or one of ours?"

"It's... a human." the fusion stated, squinting. Orient definitely wasn't expecting that answer, and it could be seen from her slightly parted lips and eyes narrowing. "On a pink lion. It seems the lion has been doing most of the work so far."

The pink-colored pearl was dumbfounded. She didn't think a human could even survive going through that thick tornado-like barrier, but now that there was, she was starting to doubt herself. "There's a human? But I thought we already evacuated."

"Yes... but the lion they're riding. It can..." The indigo fusion tried to find the words. "...create portals."

"Like that Kyanite Gem?"

"Yes. Just like her." the fused archer said, "I have a feeling Pyrite won't be happy about that human getting in the way, considering her tone." She paused. "And I know that tone. She wants to do this herself. No interruptions. She's completely serious."

"Do we prevent that human from getting any further?" the pearl asked worriedly. "He or she could get hurt."

"I don't think Pyrite's feelings should negate the objective of the mission." Jelly replied authoritatively. "Plus," she pointed at the dragon's cluster barrier. "I don't think either of us can get through that dense barrier. Whatever that human's doing, it's reckless and they're not stopping. And we can't do anything about it."

* * *

"Okay, Lion, I think I know its weak spot."

Connie patted the lion's mane as she concentrated on the dragon's movements. She still hadn't figured out how it could stay afloat with bronze-plated wings, but didn't want to question the " _science_ " of Gems. Those wings have to be at least thinner and flexible to catch air into it, but Connie tried, and poking holes in its wings did nothing, especially with how small the holes she made were. She held the most indestructible sword in the entire galaxy, and it could cut through anything, but she was still incompetent with it. She tried attacking the joints, but that wouldn't work, since its main gateway to destruction was its mental ability.

And with that, she decided to target the head. Which she felt so stupid for not going towards in the first place.

"Aim for the head, Lion! Or maybe better, get us into the mouth, Lion!" Connie exclaimed, raising her sword and pointing it at the direction of the head. Lion seemed to get the signal. "Get us through, we can chop its insides and not have to worry about the bronze-plating. I've seen this happen in fiction and it works."

Lion rolled his eyes, as if he understood what Connie was saying.

"I know it's a risk. But cutting through its defenses will take a lot of _time_. And _time_ is not something we have right now." She motioned towards the massive clutter around the dragon. "If we get into its insides, we won't have to deal with dodging incoming attacks."

Lion rolled his head around, like a shrug. He did as he was told, getting a running start and roaring themselves into a portal.

In the dimensions between reality, Connie felt weightless for a moment, before returning back to Earth, where gravity took over. She had gotten used to this feeling, a sensation that not many could experience. She prepared herself, crouching to add to her leap. They sailed into the air, making a beeline for the dragon head. Lion did a flip, launching Connie towards the mouth, as she thrust her weapon forward.

* * *

Garnet had been watching the ongoing battle and already knew of the dangers this dragon possessed. Jumping into its throat would be a good idea since its skin was as tough as diamonds, but from what she had seen, that would be suicide for the human girl. The dragon really had all of its fronts covered. There seemed to be no sign of weakness, and the only option was to overpower it. If it weren't for Howlite or Pyrite, defeating the corrupted Gem would be impossible. As for why jumping into its throat was suicide, aside from the obvious digesting process, Garnet had witnessed Howlite got spat on with green goo by the dragon. Green goo, that made Howlite a target for all objects to get pulled into, which came out of the dragon's throat. That was where Connie was aiming for. She was heading towards certain death. Garnet had to do something.

The fusion dashed across the sky, racing towards the dragon. Connie was already closing in, and was an instant away from getting trapped and suffocated by telekinetic goo. Garnet had to do something quick to save her. She was still a distance away from the dragon; a few hundreds meters at most, and could only think of one way to get there.

With a grunt, she called in her specially evolved ability. " _Time stop_!"

Immediately, all around the fusion, the world turned a different tone of color, and everything slowed to a stop. The swirling of debris and shrapnel that surrounded the dragon stopped. All the constant lighting effects like the telekinetic aura paused, and dangled in its place, at the mercy of Garnet's power.

 _One second._

She kept track of the time she had in this stopped world. She noticed there was a limit she had to use for her time-stopping ability, and to her findings she found that she could only stop time for four seconds, and need to recharge herself for a while after that. If she could constantly stop time, then there would be nothing that stood in her way of fixing this whole war between two Gem factions on the Earth. But with her limit, she had to sit back and plan with her future vision how to solve this event, or just leave the event to itself and let it resolve in its natural form.

 _Two seconds._

Garnet closed half of the distance she had between her and the dragon, and was two seconds away from her time stop ability ceasing. Connie was still paused, hovering in the air, in between the closing of the snout and jaw of the dragon. The young swordswoman had no idea what was happening in this instant.

 _Three seconds._

The fusion reached her destination, crawled through the closing mouth, immediately grabbed Connie by the back of her shirt, and turned around to their only exit.

 _Four seconds_ _—_

She hit her peak. The world of stopped time crumbled before her, color being faded back into her sight. Everything that stopped, slowly came back to life. The green wisps of telekinesis started moving, the light seeping from their exit getting dimmer, and Garnet knew.

"That's the limit." She said, "Time will resume."

Connie gasped, feeling herself getting pulled backwards out of nowhere. "Huh—"

Garnet threw Connie through the only hole, saving her before saving herself. The gap in its teeth closed just as the girl exited, and there was nothing but blackness that Garnet could see. So, she made a light. At once, her gauntlets shimmered to light and the yellow stars on it lit her surroundings. The fusion wasn't scared at all. All she had to do was get through the dragon's teeth, and she was free. She had plenty of time to escape.

 _My time-stop ability can wait. It's not necessary now._ Garnet thought. _Now, how to get out of here?_

She used her own way of doing things, which was beating the crap out of whatever was in her way. With her gauntlets, she fired them up with plasma and made them crackle with energy. Bright light sparked all around her fists, charged with electricity. Garnet swung her fist into a tooth, marking a little crack as energy expelled across the whole thing. A loud cry emanated from deep in the dragon's throat, shaking the whole place. A little bit of green was splattered against the walls. Garnet felt a little disconcerted, as the tongue under her feet kept moving and throwing her off balance, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

"It's possible," she reassured herself, inspecting the crack she created. "I can get out of here. No problem."

She threw another punch, and the next instant, she was thrown across the gums as the dragon flinched. It howled in pain, splattering more green goo everywhere. At that, Garnet groaned. She had been hit on the arm by the sticky liquid. But she didn't mind it at the moment, because there was nothing around to attract to her.

She didn't realize the pieces of tooth that she had chipped off would matter, and was surprised as they struck her. The pieces pierced her forearm and shoulder.

 _That sucks._ She turned to face the toothy wall. _That means the more I break this, the more particles that'll—_

The mouth opened, letting Garnet see light. The exit was open! She immediately seized the opportunity to escape, then figured out the consequences to her action. There were tons of particles and debris flying right outside of the mouth, and Garnet attracted them just like Howlite.

 _The dragon thinks by opening its mouth, it'll reveal me and attract objects from outside to me. And that if I escape, I'll get chased by debris. I'm trapped here._

Garnet gritted her teeth. This was just plain unfair.

The fusion threw her arms out in a cross, blocking herself from the unrelenting force of dust. She didn't expect piles of cabinets and fire hydrants to impact her, then steel beams. She had expected soda cans or light poles. But it seemed the dragon picked out the more devastating objects to approach Garnet. The force surprised her, pushing her back into the dragon's throat. When the cabinets hit her, its wooden nature made it broke into pieces, then because of the ability of the spit, the wooden shards pierced themselves elsewhere on her body. The steel beams and fire hydrants stuck to her body in a comical fashion, bending around her and ensnaring her. The metal held her together, pinning her arms. The weight was nothing to her, but as restrictions to her movement, it was severe.

 _Shit... we're in trouble._

 _It's alright. We can get through this._

 _I know that, but Sapph_ _—Wait, i_ _s that a car?_

An entire automobile came flying right at Garnet. CRAKTSHHH! Metal crumpled and glass shattered against her. The force struck her backwards, sending her on a path deeper into the dragon's throat. She landed on her back, skidding across the tongue, and fell into the upper esophagus, which was dripping with the attracting green goo. The liquid smeared over her as she slid down the esophagus and into the deep dark abyss of the corrupted Gem's insides.

 _Ah, well, we did all we can._

 _This is disgusting._

 _There's nothing else we can do. Except, maybe heating up and turning this into a gas._

 _It will take a while._

 _Oh, yes,_ time _. Wasn't it on our side?_

 _Only for four seconds._

 _Yeah... That isn't going to help us now._

* * *

 _Burning!_

Pyrite felt as if she were about to explode. Sweat was streaming down her face. Her eyes were concentrated on the dragon, thinking of only _oblivion_. The air around her felt like dense steam, she swore she could feel a liquid substance streaming down her body. It was the steam that collected around the vicinity from her golden aura, and from the fire hydrants that were ripped off the ground, causing water to splash everywhere.

 _I can feel my heart pounding! My blood boiling! Heat! Overdrive!_ Pyrite recounted lines she had heard for motivation, and poured her essence into a fist. _Small happy dragon! Dragon fist! Rawr! No, cut the roar, that sounded cute. It's gotta be like this... Menacing! Chu-chu-chu-chu... what the hell was that? That wasn't a roar. It doesn't matter, I'm finishing this once and for all!_

As her mind rambled on, her body acted.

She leaped. She went straight for the dragon, blazing with power. Even though the dragon had a barrier with pieces of rock and cement flying around, it played safe. The dragon saw her and opened its mouth, letting a rain of spit out as it roared. Pyrite decided to take the hit, since she intended to end this. They can solve the spit problem later. Pyrite was aiming to break the tornado-like barrier first, and released her punch before the spit came in contact.

" _OOOOOOO_ —" Pyrite swung her fist in an arc, making a force that cut the air in front of her in half, for a distance of 25 meters. "—RRRRRAA _AAHHHH_!"

The crushing blow struck the hurricane barrier, swiftly tearing it apart. The remaining force went on as a shock wave, striking the dragon square in the jaw. The beast's bronze plating shattered a bit but cracked even more, and its head twisted a morbid ninety degrees from the hit. Silver liquid spewed out in a fashion akin to blood, all raining down from the new cracks formed by Pyrite's punch. This show of weakness made Pyrite smirk, and she intended to draw out much more pain. She saved more.

She continued swinging her vengeful fists rapidly at the dragon's direction, crying out, "ORAORAORAORAORAORA _ORA_!"

Her golden aura carried on and showed the path of which her punches went, which dead-on honed in on the dragon. Bronze plates scattered everywhere, and so did pieces of its physical form and its _blood_. Whole solid energy constructs which made up the physical bodies of Gems, exploded outwards from the corrupted Gem. The cracks on the bronze plates were no longer there, since its head was destroyed mercilessly. The body followed afterward, since it took much damage from the slaughter, and _poof_!

No more dragon.

Pyrite inwardly exploded with happiness at the sight of the cloud and the vanishing of the entire body, limbs and wings.

 _I won! Oh yeah! I'm not dying today, Emerald! You sick son of a bitch!_

She fell and landed on her head, making a small crater. It hurt.

Garnet crashed into the ground a distance from her, with car pieces and wooden shards flying in all directions, as they weren't attracted to her anymore. The fusion gave a hefty groan as she tried to remove the steel beam closing around her, which had restricted her arms from movement. Pyrite got up and saw her struggling, so she went over and helped her, snapping the metal in half with ease, since she had a grip. Something that Garnet didn't have at the moment.

"How did you get in there? I didn't see you around here." Pyrite asked curiously, as Garnet stretched her limbs.

Garnet remembered Pyrite from thousands of years ago, as a mindless drone on a rampage. The golden Gem didn't seem as mindless as she had before, so Garnet didn't punch her on sight. She decided to use future vision to check on whatever would happen if she talked to Pyrite. She readjusted her shades. "I can stop time."

"Oh." Pyrite raised a brow, not believing her. " _Neat_. Have I seen you before?"

"I just remembered something. I have to go check on that girl I threw." Garnet expertly change the subject and left before Pyrite could get another word out of her. The fusion vanished without a trace, leaving Pyrite spooked. Taking in Garnet's place, the Revolution crew she fought alongside came to meet up with her. Jelly had carried Orient with her as she leaped to Pyrite's location, as a few jaspers walked and bumped fists with each other.

"Phew! That was intense!" Pyrite smirked, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "I've gotta admit! I almost fell off the wagon there!" She paused, trying to process what she said, and then asked, "That's the saying, right?"

Jelly and Orient glanced at each other, thinking the same thing. The pink pearl turned to Pyrite and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm _fine_." the golden Gem replied, putting an emphasis on the latter word. "Just got a little intense, is all. I had to put myself in _that_ mood if I were going to win."

"It seemed like you didn't need our help." Jelly mentioned.

Pyrite gave her a cocky smirk, which didn't settle well with the fused archer, before her grin turned into a frown. "How are we going to tell the good news to Howlite?"

Orient looked around at the devastated city. She saw dust and debris littered everywhere, and noticed how there was a spray of green goo all over Pyrite. The same goo that made Howlite flee the city. "The goo's ability has become null." She pointed out, as she pointed at Pyrite. "You have goo all over you but you don't seem to have any attraction to the dust. It doesn't have that _pull_. That's what I've discerned. That means that the objects attracted to Howlite will start to fall off, and then she'll know that we've won."

"Alright," Pyrite turned, glancing at the destruction of the city. "But what about the mess?"

Orient sighed. "That will be a problem Pearl has to handle."

" _Really_?" Pyrite nervously rubbed her neck. "I don't think she has to handle any of this. All this stress will break her."

"Someone has to do it." Jelly told her. "And none of us are qualified the way Pearl is."

* * *

Connie sat against the ledge of a rooftop, letting Lion lick her small cuts. She sighed, knocking the back of her head against the cement structure. She had accomplished nothing during the fight. The victory had been from the Gems down there. If she hadn't participated, she would've guessed that things would turn out the same. She didn't know why she felt so disappointed, the day had been saved, but not her self-esteem. She knew that she wouldn't have won that fight, but there was a thought in the back of her mind that she would've. That she would win because she had to make a comeback. But what did she know? She had her butt handed to her multiple times before. It seemed stupid to her now that she had considered the fact that she hadn't trained in a while.

"That was a disaster." Connie said, talking to nobody in particular. But Lion listened, and the thought of her and Steven's...—What would they call Lion? A pet? _—_ their pet listening comforted her.

"I'm glad you agree."

Connie's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't expected a response. She didn't think Lion would've talked, but she knew that it couldn't be Lion. She turned around and saw a tall Gem with square-shaped hair and a cloak, floating over the ledge she was sitting against. Connie's breath caught in her throat.

She recognized her.

" _Garnet_?" she whispered, thinking that this Gem was the real-life equivalent to the one in her dreams. They looked the same in terms of physical appearance, but the clothing was different.

"We've never met before." the fusion stated. "How did you know my name?"

"Uh... I've had... _dreams_?"

Garnet checked her future vision, readjusting her shades again, and found her information on Connie. She decided that she would have to tell her something.

"Go home, Connie. Now's not your time."

The young swordswoman was confused. "Wh-what?"

"Go home. Train. Now's not your time to shine. Things have been hectic among Gems. Steven wouldn't want you to be participating in this." Garnet informed. "In fact, I'll probably come back to you in the future, telling you if you're needed."

"Oh..." Connie was still stumped about what's going on. Steven had told her last year that there was some dispute going on and he had to go into hiding. And she knew from the news that there was that Gem Registration Act. She didn't know what to think of it. But if Garnet had said Steven wouldn't want her to be around that, then... who was she kidding? She'll be around. Even if Lion was too stubborn to help her see Steven, she'll be on his side no matter what. _  
_"Connie," The girl looked up at Garnet. "Steven's fine. Go home."  
And on that note, Garnet disappeared before her very eyes.

* * *

Month: April

Rose Quartz was reborn.

 _I have a body. My own body. My physical form._

She tried to summon her shield, and it worked. A pink disk shimmered into existence at her will, and the sight of that already made Onyx awe. Rose noticed the widened red eyes from under that dark hood, and couldn't help but smile at her. The telepath already thought of why she was smiling at her, which made her scowl.

 _'Oh, you think it's funny when I show a sign of emotion?'_ the dark Gem challenged.

Rose kept that simple smile on her face. "No. It's just... nostalgia. Seeing you have that kind of reaction just reminds me that you're still the same old Onyx from back then." Rose frowned for a moment. "Last time we saw each other, you were..."

 _'Mad?'_ Onyx concluded.

"Yeah. You went a bit overboard." Rose admitted. Her eyes went back to focus on the twelve year-old lying on a slab of concrete. She reached out and caressed his cheek with the back of her fingers, feeling his son's soft and plump skin against her own soft and plump skin.

She had just done what she thought would be impossible.

She could feel her son's own being, right here, in reality. If only they weren't restricted to the same Gem, they could talk to each other here. They could see each other in the eye, and she could tell him stories about her adventure and see his reactions. They could chat for years with all the things Rose had gone through and experienced. But all that would be impossible. Here in the real world, only one of them can exist at any point in time, and they could not meet each other in the physical world and live regular lives.

"You're lucky, Onyx." Rose remarked dejectedly. "You get to exist at the same time as your daughter."

Onyx thought about that. _'But we aren't bonded through blood. I adopted Kyanite as mine and Obsidian's. We are in relation the same way Lapis and your son is. You're brave, Rose. To make the decision to have Steven come into this world. I know I wouldn't have done the same thing you did.'_

"Now you're gonna support me? I thought you were against me..." the pink quartz said.

 _'I was never against you, Rose.'_ she declared.

"I kind of feel that way." Rose professed. She leaned back. "Anyway, speaking of our young..."

Rose smirked, craning her head to look through Onyx, so that she could see a certain cyan teleporter standing in the doorway. Said teleporter was holding up a metal tray that had mushroom soup, which had a scent so heavenly that Rose could smell it from several meters away.

"Ma? Rose!" Kyanite called, before her eyes darted to the tray of food she was holding. She nervously glanced back at the tall Gem and blushed. "I didn't know when you were gonna come back... It's been months. I was, uhh... Just... going to... _feed_."

"It's okay, Kyanite. No need to be nervous. You're keeping him healthy." Rose approached the smaller Gem, and held the tray for her. "By the way, it has been a _long_ time since I've seen you, Kyanite." She used her free hand to pat her fluffy, v-shaped hairdo. "New hair. Looks good. Not too pointy."

"Yes... I grew it myself." Kyanite wanted to just die right there because of what came out of her mouth. All of her dignity was flushed into the void of space.

Onyx raised an eyebrow at that mention, but Rose didn't notice. Instead, the pink Quartz curled her hair in her fingers and responded, "Huh. So did I."

The dark telepath spun on her heels. _'We'll have to go down to business. We've lost two months—'_

"I apologize, but..." Rose frowned, then pointed to the tray of soup. "...Can I do something first?" she asked.

 _'You're not gonna eat that, are you?'_ Onyx groaned.

Rose giggled. "No. I'm just going to feed Steven. This is the only time I will be able to experience this." She looked down to face Kyanite. "Sorry, but I'll take over this time, alright? By the time I go, I won't have another chance. You can feed Steven all you want when I'm gone."

Kyanite nodded, concealing her slight disappointment. "I understand."

Rose straightened herself, frowning as she went over to her comatose Steven. She crouched down beside her child, and proceeded to sit him up to down the soup easier.

Onyx leaned back, sighing. _She didn't even let me answer and already went to do what she was going to do. 'I suppose... sparing a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.'_

"Thank you, Onyx."

The dark Gem felt nostalgic, watching the gentle actions of her former Crystal Gem commander.

Onyx had only been around for a few months, but she knew she missed the old days with Pearl, Garnet and Obsidian. There was no doubt about it. She also knew it wasn't possible to get the old team back, and that she had to adapt to the new world.

But that was going to take time. Sometimes, she could feel Obsidian's touch, a ghostly feeling on her shoulders. And when she turns to greet him, he'll be there with a smile, always, arising from her subconscious. It won't be him, and she wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Kyanite had seen it happen. Onyx felt so embarrassed and was disappointed in herself for it. She needed someone to staple her back to reality, and even if it humiliates the both of them, it would be the job for her daughter.

On the other hand, Rose never got to experience being a real parent to her son. The closest she could get would be feeding her comatose son. Onyx couldn't believe it, but she felt real pity as Rose fed her child, trying to tilt the bowl to her son's lips. Meanwhile, Kyanite looked after the Rose Quartz- _es_ , anxiously informing Rose about Steven's feeding tendencies. She was _anxious_ , since her knowledge of him over weird details was embarrassing to speak of. However, Rose didn't mind, and appreciated all the help she could get.

Onyx felt this was a bonding time between tragic family. This was what Rose Quartz had always wanted to protect, and the dark Gem understood. But for the first time in her life, she finally saw what it was like, and it wasn't all in her head.

* * *

 _'Alright, Rose, are you finally done? If not, then prepare yourself anyway, we're going to the Rebellion of this era.'_

"You do know that I've been decommissioned for only twelve years and you're the one that's missing out for five whole millennia. So, the term " _era_ " seems a little too much, doesn't it?" Rose retorted, smirking inwardly. It got on Onyx's nerves. Never mind all that sappy stuff she just realized a while ago, she took back what she thought. It seemed that Rose had adopted some childish tendencies while being gone. It may be from Steven being a twelve year-old and the Gem taking effect on that.

 _'True, but...'_ Onyx paused, then grunted. She could see from the corner of her eye that Kyanite was holding a chuckle. _'Don't ruin my moment.'_

"But then again, a _lot_ of things have progressed in these twelve years than five whole millennia." Rose deadpanned. She started going for a sarcastic tone, putting a hand under her chin to brush her fingers over her mouth, which hid her grin. "Thousands of years worth of human evolution doesn't mean much compared to the news of Gems from the last two years. Oh, and the Corruption problem we had? It's just dust in the wind now, it seems. Old news. _So_ _old_ , it would make Moonstone look young again."

That last sentence made Kyanite finally let out a chuckle, although it was a small one. Onyx snorted. _'I get it, Rose. You don't need to get too technical.'_

Rose reverted from her devilish smirk to a sincere, warm smile, which unnerved Onyx from how both expressions seem to fit Rose well. "I'll have to apologize to you, Onyx. I haven't gotten to do such a thing in my entire life and I just wanted to check it off what humans call a _bucket-list_."

The dark Gem understood what Rose meant. Rose had already passed away, and this chance at life made her contemplate that there might be some things she wanted to do before kicking the bucket again.

 _She is probably going to annoy me to death._ Onyx thought, covering her red eyes by getting her claw-like hands and pulling her hood down a little lower. _'It's alright.'_

Rose's smile wavered. "Are you avoiding me?" she teased.

 _'Would it be surprising?'_ she asked.

 _Not if you were part of Homeworld,_ Rose responded through her thoughts, trying to see if she was still lingering in her mind.

 _'That is uncalled for.'_

"You're still in my mind. That's reassuring." Rose remarked outwardly, revealing to anyone in the room that Onyx was still lurking in the depths of their mind. Which only meant Kyanite was the only other person who heard it. "That means I won't have to repeat myself. You get to do it."

Onyx growled, and _not_ in a friendly tone of any way. _'Are we going?'_

"By all means, lead the way. I've just been waiting for you."

Onyx went silent.

 _This was a bad idea._

* * *

Onyx and Rose ended up on a Warp Pad near the forests, leaving Kyanite back in _Quadroki Enquare_ to look after Steven. The first thing that happened when they were finally out of _Quadroki Enquare_ , was Rose pulling Onyx back by the shoulder so that she could hurriedly ask her, "Did you see the way Kyanite looked at my son?"

Onyx turned to Rose slowly. _'Yes.'_

"So you _know_." Rose said sternly, releasing her grip on Onyx, as the latter raised a brow. The telepath felt rather creeped by her tone.

 _'Know what?'_

Rose nodded at her with a sorrowful look. "So you _don't_ know," she corrected, with faux-derision oozing from her voice.

 _'Spit it out.'_

"The way your daughter looked at my son? You really want to know?"

 _'Rose, I've lost my patience with you already. I've never regret so much in my entire lifespan before. You've been nothing but a pain, and that's the greatest weapon I could ever ask for.'_

It was true that Onyx didn't have anyone to mock her in the way Rose now did in her entire life. Back then, nobody mocked her because they were afraid of her telepathic ability. And now, nothing has changed, as she had been gifted the trait of telekinesis and the special power derived from her fusion; hex bolts. If anything, the situation had gotten even worse and nobody dared to mock her without punishment. However, Rose couldn't receive any penalty from Onyx, because... because... she was _Rose_! Onyx couldn't harm her. And now that the one thing she couldn't harm was irritating her to no end, she had put herself in her own personal corner. She couldn't even bring herself to mute Rose!

She wished Rose wasn't this petty and went back to normal, so she would be all about the mission. Onyx had hypothesized during this time that Rose had changed over the thousands of years she had been bubbled, and this was Rose's true self, revealed after all that time of peace. But that couldn't possibly be! Pearl would've gone mad if she had to deal with this Rose! This was entirely different! This Rose was _reborn_. She'd gotten a taste of death— _no_ , she had been _fed_ death, and now she was back, and she had finally broken to her desires. This fool was completely atrocious compared to the late Rose Quartz.

"Okay. I see. You've grown irritated of me." Rose puffed out, effectively changing the subject as she started walking in one direction. Onyx halted her with a hand and pointed at another direction, and they started walking off the Warp Pad to their destination. "The teasing was a little tame, but I guess you weren't prepared for it. I can sense that your spirits are low. I'll go back on my attitude."

 _'Were you always like this after bubbling me?'_ Onyx asked curiously, wondering if Garnet or Pearl had to put up with this version of her.

"No, I wasn't always like this." Rose shook her head. She then grinned, and explained, "But at least now I can say that I've pissed you off and didn't die from you."

 _'You've got to be kidding me.'_ Onyx said. _'You did all_ _that just to piss me off and get away with it?'_

Rose's grin turned into a frown. "Well, I needed a reason to blame my behavior. I just came from death. I just wanted to do something before I don't get the chance to. I _am_ going to be here for a limited period of time, seeing as I'm here at the expense of Steven's existence."

All the talk about death brought back a question Onyx forgot to ask. She had been wondering what it's like after death, and was wondering if she could meet Obsidian after she passed away, or if she could meet anyone at all.

 _'By the way, I was wondering... what was it like being dead? Do you get to see the others? Or is it just nothingness?'_ she finally asked the most invaluable piece of information for every living thing in the entire Universe.

Rose stopped, her shoulders tensing up and her eyes widening. She stared directly into Onyx's red, and supposedly soulless, eyes. "I don't think I should be saying anything about that."

Onyx narrowed her eyes at Rose.

"Don't even try looking into my mind for an answer."

 _'Too late.'_

Onyx saw. If she had a mouth, it would be agape. Rose had a telling look on her face, before getting increasingly worried for her mental state and roughly shook her.

The telepath gulped and moved to another topic than death. 'Anyway, _back to that previous topic you mentioned, what were you talking about my daughter and your_ —'

"HEY! Is that... _ROSE QUARTZ_?!" a ruby shouted.

 _'Oh, we're here.'_ Onyx remarked, inwardly surprised.

Rose's eyes scanned the vicinity, noting the green fields and the mountains in the distance. The Pyramid Temple seem to be the same, except there were some inhabitants around that filled the population from zero to two hundred. There were a few archers atop the upside-down pyramid, while the grunts were on land, some standing and others sitting.

"IT IS!" another ruby confirmed.

A jasper that was out for guard duty barked out, "That can't be her! She's _dead_! Steven—"

"Steven's been gone for a _month_!" An amethyst guard cut in. "Maybe this was what he was working on, reviving Rose Quartz!"

"Then where is he?" the same jasper guard asked.

The Pyramid Temple's main gate opened up and a group of Rubies came swarming out. The lead Ruby pointed at Rose Quartz.

"Oh my gosh, it's Rose Quartz! There she is! There she is!"

 _'They seem to treat you like some kind of god, coming back from the_ _dead.'_ Onyx commented.

 _I'm not a god._ Rose replied solemnly. _And can you blame them? We just did the impossible. And also, if I'm a_ god _, then there's gonna be at least one atheist, right?_

Just as Rose thought that to Onyx, a certain speed demon heard about the commotion.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter is over 21,000 words long, beating the record of Chapter 19 by 4,000 words. I don't know how _that_ chapter took two weeks to make, and this one took three months.  
**

 **Heyyo! It's been three months, hasn't it? Woah. I've gotten out of it. All of my ideas from now on are a _year_ old now. Jeez...  
**

 **Where have I been? Well, I've been at school. And I was out of the zone. Then, I fell for other fictional franchises, such as _Jojo's Bizarre Adventure_ and... well, I guess that's it. _Jojo's_ is very good and very long, mind you. And if you guys wanna know where I'm at, I've finished Parts 1-4, and Part 7. I'm also spoiled, so I know of _some_ events in Parts 5, 6 and 8.**

 **Ya know what? Upon searching up about electricity more, I've been wrong on some stuff in this story. And I've no idea how plasma works. My stupid past self thinks plasma and lightning** (and to a further extent, electricity) **are one and the same, when it is not. Fire is a plasma. Electricity is its own thing. And voltage doesn't kill people, the value of amperes do.** (Do not take my advice, I'm a high-schooler, not a physicist.) **My golly, was I ignorant.  
**

 **Anyway, it's the first anniversary of Steven Lazuli! A full year** (and three months, sorry) **of writing this thing. Ah, the memories. I never thought I would get here. I have nothing to offer.  
**

 **Fun fact: the corrupted dragon here is the same one described back in _Chapter 20: Full Disclosure_. I just haven't used her/him/it/them yet. ****Also, the reason why I call it "laser ice", is because I'm making a pun.** (Sorta.) **Well, it goes like this. Laser _eyes_. Laser ice. Laser eyes. Laser ice. Get it? Eh.**

 ** _Also_ , this Corrupted Dragon plot completely fabricated itself out of nothing. The original plot of the chapter leaned more on Rose returning, but uh... I had writers' block. So, I made the dragon thing first instead. It's kind of a joke to post this as the anniversary thing, but I guess that's how we do it here in _Steven Lazuli_ land. We do things disappointingly and _IMMENSELY_ LATE.**

 **EDIT: I think Rose's death is an inconsistency in logic. She seemed to have never really died, but just hibernated in Steven's Gem. Just forget about it and treat it as if she died and went through the horrors of death while chatting with Grimm Reaper.**

* * *

Replies to guests:

 _Spec2Order7:_ Thanks! I appreciate the feedback!

 _my biggest fan:_ sssssoooorrrrrryyyyy. I've been attacked by writer's block.

 _Noodle:_ Lapis is always lucky. She needs to be stopped.

 _Skdpdld:_ I've already gotten lost as well. This chapter's premise wasn't in the plan.

 _Terminator:_ Someone else did find the Sardonyx Easter egg first. However, I like your theory about Obsidian being the Grimm Reaper. The Grimm Reaper doesn't have much backstory. Don't know if I'm going to implement it though, it'll probably look far-fetched to other readers.

 _12345678910:_ I've never commented on it before, but... What an odd name you have. Well, here ya go. An update! Sorry for making you wait.

* * *

Character Faves:

Garnet, Lapis Lazuli: 5

Ruby: 3

Amethyst, Kyanite, Peridot, Sapphire, Steven: 2

Amber, Black Pearl, Howlite, Pyrite: 1

* * *

Breaking News: Oh, the hero has come. Just in old English form. Which hero, you ask? Why, it's our ole' good pal Rose! *pats her on the back*

Next Chapter's Title: "Steven's Ordeal"


	58. Chapter 55 preview and stuff

**Oh man, how long has it been?**

 _(Looks at calendar)_ **Today's 11th June, 2017? Huh. When was the last upda—** _(checks last update date: 11th December, 2016)_ **—OH MY _GOODNESS_. SEVEN MONTHS? Huh, abuduhwhaa?**

 **Alright, I'll admit it. I haven't been doing much lately. Mostly because I have school in the way. And that's about it. I know, I've written most of the earlier stuff back when I was trudging through school, but school's harder now! I can't believe I'm failing my Maths of all things! I thought I was a special snowflake! I can't believe you've condemned me, God!** **Since I love my parents and don't want to disappoint them, I've promised to try my best and all that.**

 **Oh, and I've been going through a writers' block thing. God, I hate it. I hate using that generic reason. I can write good on other stuff, but this... can't even think of the correct words! I've planned to write an original story for the next two months, which is kind of selfish of me, but c'mon, who doesn't want to write a book about a ten year old girl who's inherited the soul of a powerful soul-based fighter who died in 1890, which inherently makes the young girl a metaphysical fusion who is now trying to find purpose in life. Things may be edited.** _(Shameless...)_

 **Also, I'm not caught up with Steven Universe. Haven't been caught up since last August. But whatever. Spoilers don't hurt me. I don't have the time anyway, so come at me with your best shot! Let's see what you can spoil! You can't hurt me! I'm just words on a screen, with an imaginary personality fueled by your human willingness to fill in the blanks of my persona!**

 **However, you guys have waited long enough and have read he title of this "chapter". Might as well give you an unfinished preview of what I've written for the next chapter. Things will be changed in finalized version so don't take this seriously.**

* * *

 **Chapter 55 preview:** _maybe like 10% of Steven's Ordeal_

* * *

Emerald couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Rose Quartz was alive.

Nobody knew for sure that she _had_ been alive for the past years, since they had come out of corruption and recall only small details of their past lives. But once they saw Steven with their own eyes, alive and healthy, and with all the talk about him being the son of Rose _and_ the science behind it... well, they all thought Rose Quartz was gone. But _now_...

...She was just standing before all of them.

There was one thing off about it: there was no sign of _Steven_ and Onyx was with Rose. This made Emerald's inner gears start to shift.

First off: why wasn't Steven here? Wouldn't he be excited to meet the _legendary_ _Rose Quartz_ ; his _mother_? Wouldn't he be by her side? But no, that wasn't possible, because they share the same Gem. So, by that logic, if Steven were here, there would be no Rose. And if Rose was here, there would be no Steven. They can't exist at the same time. So, if Rose was here... Did that mean... Steven didn't _exist_?

Was this an _"ingenious"_ tactic Rose created in order to achieve something? She posed as this human child called Steven and fooled everyone into thinking that they were two separate entities and that _she_ was dead. Was that her plan? Because if that was the case, then Emerald was fooled. He had suspicions when they first met and fought, but after a while, it seemed that Steven really was his own person. So, why? What's the motive? Why was Rose Quartz here instead of Steven? Is it because of this war?

There was no way this could happen. Steven was a _demigem_ , the holder of Rose Quartz, there was no way of retrieving Rose back since Steven was permanent, wasn't he? Unless, Rose had been shapeshifting as Steven the whole time.

Did Lapis know? No, it wouldn't make sense as to why Rose would put the Crystal Gems into further trauma and let Lapis boss her around. Did Pearl, Rose's _single_ confidant, know about this? She might, but there was no telling with that Gem. Did anyone else know? _No_ , not anyone that Emerald had kept track on.

Did Rose actually fool everyone into thinking Steven being real?

What the hell would that even achieve?

But then, Onyx was here. She had advanced telepathy that knew no bounds. She could induce hallucinations in everyone here, right now. Rose might just be an illusion she created. She had done it before, by making everyone believe that Jet was alive. There was no telling, unless Steven were here. He had some kind of resistance to her illusions. And then again, Steven wasn't here. Where was he anyway? Emerald hadn't seen him in months. But maybe this was Onyx's doing too... What would Onyx want right now that would make her need everyone to see Rose Quartz?

 _None of it makes sense. Onyx can have whatever she wants whenever she wants. She can do anything by thinking it. Why this? And Steven_ does _exists, right?_ _What about the two month gap that they weren't here? What happened then?_ Emerald kept asking, staring at the two powerful Gems right outside his base. Was he actually concerned for Steven? Preposterous. _Their presence here... Both are the most influential faces here. Is that her plan? Does she think she can take away_ my _control? Hah._ No _. They need me here. I've much to offer. And a lot more plans at work. Besides, they can't betray their own kind. I'd do it first. And where else do they think I'm going to go if I'm not a part of this? Straight to the Revolution, that's where._

* * *

The sight was nostalgic to Rose, in a twisted way. This was a war zone. There were even still weapons stabbed into the fields!

She didn't know why she was complaining. She had waltzed through these fields no longer than twenty years ago. It hadn't been that long, but... Steven's human mortality changed her sense of time. As painful as it was to realize it, there would be no such possibility as a millennia anymore. But was that such a bad thing? When everything repeats and the cycle of life stays the same even through thousands of decades' worth of evolution, the average human lifespan of eighty years would be enough. Anything more and that would be too much for a mortal.

Rose stared at the lifeless battlefield, looking back at the lives that were lost. Lives were a human concept, weren't they? And they were aliens. Would they be classified to being one with a life? Rose thought the answer was painfully obvious, but... did they have lives though? They were programmed, just like computers. Computers don't have life. Gems were like computers, capable of being programmed, shutting down and powering up, resetting... _ceasing_. They were _made_ , not birthed. They can revive themselves after getting their bodies destroyed, only if their software wasn't harmed.

 _What am I thinking about? Us or computers?_ She thought depressingly.

 _'We're not computers, Rose,'_ Onyx stated, rolling her eyes, _'We can take independent action.'_

 _It wasn't like that back then... Have you seen humans and their progress on Artificial Intelligence? They're getting scared that it'll become independent and go against them._

 _'Really? What are you suggesting? That there were organics who were smart enough to create us?'_

 _The universe is 14 billion years old. And we don't yet know how we began,_ Rose's eyes hardened, something that Onyx just couldn't get over while in person. _Everything repeats. The humans are on the path of creating something just like us. It might be insight to our kind's past._

The black Gem knew she picked the right path, no matter how incredibly annoying or cryptic she could get.

 _'Does our origin really matter?'_

 _No._ There was a dramatic pause. _It does not. I just got curious._

Rose picked up a pebble, confusing some of the Gems watching, who were waiting for the two famous Gems to reach the place.

"I just remembered: Amber was a naturally-made Gem. She had no programming built into her. Just the ingredients on how to make a Gem."

 _'How incredibly quaint.'_

"Also, just to tell you. We teleported a few ways from the signal barrier that was set up here, so we just alerted the Revolution of our location."

 _'I can't wait.'_

Rose eyed her from the side. She let out a sigh, knowing full well that with the way Onyx was going at it, she wasn't interested with anything that had to do with Rose's musing. All she was interested in was the pink Gem leading a battle like the old days. She wanted to discuss strategy and fighting plan, not some person's thoughts about life or the safety of the camp.

Onyx could sense this as well. _'I'm sorry for being... aloof. I have a lot on my mind.'_


End file.
